Have A Little Faith
by OMG Pterodactyls
Summary: Samael gets a new pet and she's not too happy about it
1. Sammy gets a new pet

**OMG Pterodactyls is back baby! And have I got a story for y'all! Ok, not really but I hope y'all enjoy it nonetheless. As per frikkin usual, I don't own Darkisders, thanks goes to detrametal, and I still enjoy large amounts of cupcakes. Enjoy!**

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She was driving home from work, minding her own business and singing along to the music that was blasting out of the speakers at an almost deafening volume, when _it_ appeared. The monster, for that is what it looked to be, appeared in front of her car in a flash of light and a crash of thunder.

Momentarily blinded by light, she swerved her car but not enough to miss the thing standing on the road which she still hadn't really noticed. By the time she regained her sight, she barely had enough time to slam her foot on the brake pedal and brace for impact before she crashed into the monster. She felt the moment her vehicle went from sixty to zero as she was thrown forward but caught by her seatbelt. Then… nothing.

She came to only a second later to feel something wet and warm dripping down her face and a ringing in her ears. _Not again…What the Hells was that?_

She didn't get the chance to find out right then as she blacked out again to the sound of tearing metal as the car door was ripped off and a deep voice saying, "This one will do nicely."

Those who gave their testimony later of the events that transpired would describe an impossible scene. They would say a giant orange monster with upside-down wings and a long tail appeared out of nowhere and stopped the car with one clawed hand. It went to the driver's side of the car before ripping the door off, cutting the seatbelt, and pulling the unconscious woman out. Then, with her cradled in one arm, it disappeared in another flash of light and crash of thunder.

 _ **...**_

She woke up an unknown time later with a splitting headache and something cold around her wrists, ankles, and throat.

"Ugh… what happened?" she wondered aloud, reaching up to put a hand to her aching head. When she did this, she noticed a few things. One: she seemed to be under a fuzzy blanket. Two: there was broken glass in her hair. Three: there seemed to be something metallic dangling from her wrist.

 _Am I in the hospital?_ _How long was I out? You'd think they'd at least get some of this glass off me…_

She soon realized this was not the case, however, when she failed to hear the normal sounds of a hospital. There was no beeping of machines and no chatting of hospital staff. She also seriously doubted that they would just leave her alone like this after what seemed to her like such a serious crash. So where _was_ she then?

She slowly opened her eyes, trying to keep from blinding herself with any sudden light and make her headache even worse. Though, it didn't take her long for her to start wishing that she'd kept them closed. She appeared to be in a unfamiliar bedroom with red painted walls, ebony furniture pushed up against the walls, black marble floor, and steel doors directly in front of her and on the wall to her left. The thing she felt on her wrist turned out to be a manacle made out of some black metal with a few links of chain dangling from it. She guessed this was what was around her other limbs as well.

"What the bloody Hells?" she said aloud, feeling panic rise in her throat. She swallowed the feeling back down. Panicking wasn't going to do her any good now.

She slowly pushed herself up into a sitting position, pushing off the black fur cover as she did so. Where was she? What was she doing here? What happened after she blacked out? What was that thing she crashed into anyway? She had so many questions and none of them seemed like they were going to be answered any time soon. So she would have to go and try to find some answers herself.

Keeping to the slow and steady way, she found that she was right in that there were almost identical manacles around her other wrist and ankles. What were they doing there and how they got there in the first place, she still didn't know. They were too tight to have been slipped over her hands and she didn't see any way that they could have been opened. Deciding to ignore them for now, she made her way across the room to the door in front of her bed. When she got closer, she noticed that it didn't have a handle on it. She tried pushing it open but it wouldn't budge. She also tried digging her nails into the crack between the door and the wall to pry it open but got the same result along with a broken nail or three.

Coming to the conclusion that she wasn't going to be able to open it at this moment, she moved on to the next one on the left side of the room. This door did have a handle on it and she turned it to find…

 _Well, that's kinda unexpected._

It was a bathroom with the same red walls, black floor, and black amenities. Black stone sink with a silver faucet, black claw-foot tub, black stone shower with a black cloth curtain, black stone toilet, and even an ebony cabinet.

 _Whoever's house this it, they really like black…_

With that thought, she made her way over to the sink to look at the mirror mounted on the wall above it. What she saw was pretty much what she expected, plus one or two surprises. Her face was partially covered in dried blood, some of it from small cuts and some from a broken nose – probably caused by the airbag – which seemed to be no longer broken. In fact, she couldn't see any injuries at all and yet there was still blood on her face and glass in her hair. That was surprise number one. Surprise number two was a metal collar around her neck with a metal pendant that resembled a demonic face.

She reached up to touch the new, mysterious, and, frankly, unwanted accessory but got an electric shock when her fingers got too close.

 _The Hells?_

Deciding to ignore it for now – after all, this was a dream, right? – she turned on the water, splashed some on her face, and scrubbed with her hands until she got all the blood off. When that was done, she carefully picked the pieces of glass out of her hair and stacked them in a neat pile beside the sink.

Cleanup done, she stared at the mirror and into her grey eyes, "Ok, I'm not sure what happened after the crash or even what caused it in the first place but right now I'm probably at the hospital and just in a coma and this is all a dream. Yeah, that makes sense." She said, nodding to her reflection. "Makes more sense that anything else right now…"

She heard what sounded like a door clicking open in the next room and hurried out of the bathroom to see who it was. Dream or not, she wanted to know what was going on. As soon as she stepped through the doorway, she instantly regretted it. Now standing in the middle of the bedroom was… a demon. It was huge with horns that almost touched the ceiling, purple skin, stunted wings, hoofed feet, and a thick tail. It was also carrying a stone bowl with a rag draped over the side in one hand and what looked like clothes in the other.

She couldn't help but scream before rushing back into the bathroom, slamming the door behind her, and getting as far away from it as she could. Which meant that she was now on crouched on the other side of the bathtub and peeking over it at the door. The only real barrier between her and the monster outside.

 _Forget dream, this is a fucking nightmare!_

She crouched there trying to stay as quiet as possible as she listened to the creature in the other room clop around. She heard it growl out something that almost resembled words and a _clack_ as it set the bowl down. She thought it had left when there came a sudden knock on the door. She waited for something else, some other sound, but nothing came. The thing on the other side seemed to be waiting patiently for her reply.

"Wh-who is it?" she asked hesitantly. It was the first thing that came to mind.

It growled out something indecipherable.

"What?"

In response, it cracked open the door before speaking again, "Master Samael sent me to help you get cleaned up."

 _Who is Samael? And what is this… thing? This is definitely the weirdest dream I've ever had._

"I'm… I'm ok. I've already gotten all the blood off." She decided to say.

"Then I brought a change of clothes and I am to take you to see the master once you are more presentable."

 _"More presentable"? Excuse you, I was just in a car wreck. This is about as "presentable" as I'm going to get!_

"Uh… ok." She said instead.

Her answer given, the thing closed the door. She listened as it clopped through the bedroom and heard another faint _click_ as it closed the outer door as well.

 _Well, that was… strange._

Confident that the monster had left, she cautiously rose from her hiding spot and made her way to the door. Peeking out into the room beyond, she saw that the monster was indeed gone. On the bed now sat a neatly folded pile of clothes that she recognized as the ones the thing was holding when she first saw it. She picked up the top piece to find a dark red V-neck tee and a pair of blue jeans under it.

 _Well I'm not sure what I was expecting but this is better than that._

Still wary of anyone or thing just being able to barge in, she took her new clothes back to the bathroom to change. She hadn't noticed until then but her grey work shirt and jeans were ripped in various places and had spots of blood all over them. She got changed, dropping her old and ruined clothes in a pile but kept her socks and boots since her… benefactor?... or the dream had failed to provide her with new pairs. But that was okay with her. She liked these boots.

 _Ok, I've gotten changed, I'm still dreaming, and I'm not sure what to do now. Great. Definitely don't want to go see this "Master"…_

But, she guessed it wouldn't hurt, this _was_ a dream after all. Then again, wasn't there something about if you die in a dream you die for real? She suddenly wished she'd listened more to those wild theories her friend kept spouting off. She shrugged her shoulders and shook her head, she could pay more attention when she woke up and got out of the hospital. _If_ she ever woke up. She shook her head again, of course she would wake up!

 _What to do, what to do?_

While she thought about what to do next, she also took a closer look at the room. As she noticed earlier, the walls were painted a deep, blood red and the floor was made of black marble she guessed. There was a large bed pushed up against the middle of the wall farthest from the door and facing it with bedside tables on either side with a chest at the foot. There was also a bookshelf, a desk and chair with a red cushion on it, a vanity with another chair and mirror, a table in the middle of the room, a red couch, a chest of drawers, and finally an armoire. All of which seemed to be made of ebony wood. Needless to say, it was a pretty large room. She didn't really know anything about woodworking but she thought it was all very well made and pretty. Until she noticed the tiny screaming faces and miniature battle scenes carved into each piece.

 _Who knew I had such an imagination to even think of those tiny carvings. Wait, wasn't I supposed to be thinking of something else?_

Before she could remember what it was she was supposed to be thinking of instead of studying the furniture, the door opened back up to allow the monster from earlier back in. She almost failed to resist the urge to hide again.

 _Why I never! It didn't even knock! The audaciousness!_

"Are you ready to go meet Master Samael now?" it growled out. It didn't seem angry or anything so she guessed that was just how it normally talked. Then again, what did she know about her own dream world?

"Uh, y-yeah. I guess."

The thing nodded and turned to lead the way out, "Follow me then. He's just up here."

 _Up here?_

She peeked around the monster to see a set of stairs leading up.

 _Ah, so I guess this means I'm underground. That would explain why there's no windows. Wait… holy Volcano God, am I in this guy's basement?! This is classis slasher fic kidnapping and torturing in the creepy basement! It_ is _a nice basement though._

Keeping her thoughts to herself, she followed the thing out of the bedroom and up the stairs, all the while continuing to silently tell herself that this was all some fucked up, coma induced dream and that she would definitely wake up soon. Hopefully soon…

She and her escort finally made it to the top of the long staircase and into a blistering hot room. And no wonder it was so hot, there was lava everywhere! The room was larger than large and the walls and floor were made of some carved black stone that definitely wasn't marble. That was all she really had time to notice since as soon as her foot landed on the top step, some invisible force picked her up and pulled her around to face…

 _Sweet mother of mercy, what the bloody Hells?_

It was the thing, the monster, she had crashed into. She had only seen it for a split second but she was sure that this thing was it. Another thing she was sure of was that she was terrified. And angry. Who cared if this was just a dream, she was going to give this thing a piece of her mind! That car was new! Well, new to her. Ok, newish to her.

She opened her mouth to speak but before she could get a word out, the monster smiled at her. She thought it was a smile anyways.

"This is not a dream." It said. Or _he_ said. She guessed it was a he.

"A-wha?" She managed to get out in her dumbfounded state.

"You are thinking this is a dream when it is very much real."

She actually laughed, she couldn't help it, "Of course this is a dream! Or a nightmare one. This can't possibly be real!"

"And why not?" he chuckled as if humoring her silly notion.

"Well… none of this can be real. I'm literally floating in midair and talking to a giant monster-"

"Demon." He corrected.

"Ah, ok, floating in midair talking to a giant _demon_ inside what I assume to be a palace, judging but how huge this room is and the fact you're sitting on what looks like a throne, and has somehow been decorated with large amounts of lava. How could this be anything _but_ a dream?!"

The demon waved his hand and she had no choice but to float closer, "This is not a dream." he said again. "I am the demon prince Samael, this is my palace and my realm, and I have brought you here, little human, to be my… pet." He finished his statement by poking the pendant hanging from her… collar.

She held up a hand, "Whoa there, people stopped keeping, or being able to keep, humans as… pets about a century and a half ago." She was honestly surprised she could remember that.

"Ah yes, but I am not… people."

"Oh… I guess you're right. But you can't keep a person as a pet no matter who or what you are! It's just not right!"

The demon prince leaned closer until their faces were only a few centimeters apart, "Little human, do I look as if I care what is right?"

"A-ah, no…" she muttered, looking down and away from the demon.

Satisfied with her answer, he leaned back, "Let me tell you again, little human, this is not a dream and you are my new pet. Understood?"

She nodded, not trusting her voice now.

Samael waved his hand clawed hand again and the invisible force that was holding her in the air let her go and she dropped to the floor where she landed hard on her hands and knees.

 _Ow… wait, that hurt. Dreams aren't supposed to hurt… But… this can't be real! None of this can be possible!_

"Now let me explain some things to you."

She readjusted herself so that she was sitting cross-legged in front of the demon prince before nodding, her revelation keeping her silent.

"You may go anywhere in the palace that you wish either using one of my servants to carry you or the hidden passages. Your new… accessories, as you call them, will let me know where you are at all times as well as give you a… warning in you leave the palace. If you try to leave this realm, they'll kill you."

She felt the blood drain from her face and nodded again.

"You may go back to your room now. If you require anything let one of the demons know."

Still unable to speak, she stood and started making her way over to the stairs leading to her new room. Which, she noticed, just so happened to be directly under Samael's throne.

"Ah, but before you go, what is it you are called?"

 _What do you care?_ She thought to herself, stopping midstride. _Going to print it on the back of my tag along with your phone number?_

She looked him dead in the eye before answering. If he expected her to cower before him and all that, she wasn't going to give him the pleasure.

"Faith."


	2. Don't think about it too much

**Welcome to the second chapter of this newish series! I don't own Darksiders and thanks go to detrametal! I like yelling sometimes! It gives me a sense of purpose! So do turtles!**

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Her meeting with the "master" obviously over, Faith made her way back down to her room. She needed time to process all of this new information. And a nap. She _really_ needed a nap. She tried to ignore the gazes of the demons and calmly walk around Samael's throne but it was getting harder to not just run with each step. Finally she made it far enough down the stairs that a stone slab slid across the entryway, blocking off her way back into the throne room. At least it was cooler now.

 _Not that I wanted to go back in there anyway but does that mean I'm trapped down her now? Wait, didn't he say something about hidden passages? There's gotta be one down here somewhere. Whatever, I can look for it later._

Reaching the bottom of the stairs and her room, Faith shut the door behind her, forgetting that there wasn't a way to open it from the inside. Not really caring about anything at that moment anyway, she made her way to the bed, which had somehow been made in the few minutes that she was gone. Ignoring that as well, she only stopped for a moment to kick off her boots and sock. It was really uncomfortable wearing them with the manacles anyway.

When she finally reached the bed, her new haven, she supposed, she simply fell onto it face-down. She felt like crying and screaming and curling into a ball under the covers and never coming out unless she was dragged kicking and screaming. She'd just had her whole life and future taken away from her. And why? Because this stupid ass demon prince wanted a new pet! What about her dammit?! She'd had a family, friends, a boyfriend, and a career! Okay, maybe not a career exactly but she had a job she was good at and liked pretty well. While she was being honest, she and her boyfriend seemed pretty close to breaking up. But that was beside the point!

Suddenly remembering something, Faith pushed herself up off the bed. Her family!

 _Gods, they must be so worried! How long have I been gone anyway? Have they sent out a search party or something for me? Other people had to have seen what happened… Though I doubt anyone would believe that I was kidnapped by a huge demon._

She sat on the bed, staring blankly at the fur blanket. An image of her mother came to mind. She was crying her eyes out because her only child was missing and her dad was trying to comfort her while holding back tears himself. Faith shook her head to dispel the image but it was too late, there were already tears streaming down her face and they didn't seem to be stopping anytime soon.

What was she going to do? Even if she could somehow leave this realm or whatever without dying, she seriously doubted she could find her way home. She glanced over at the desk and wondered if there was any paper in one of the drawers. If there was, then maybe she could write them a letter at least telling them that she was okay. But would that make things better or worse? They would at least know that she wasn't dead but they would still be worried about where she was and if she was actually okay or just being forced to say that. Of course, even if _did_ write a letter, there was no guarantee that Samael would have it delivered for her either. But there was no harm in trying.

Hopping off the bed, Faith made her way over to the desk. Wiping the tears from her face, she sat down and began looking through the few drawers and found paper, a quill, ink, and even some envelopes. It seemed her "master" had expected this.

 _How gracious of him. But seriously? A quill and ink? It's the 21_ _st_ _century, catch up with the times Sammy._ She thought to herself, preparing her writing supplies. _Not, what am I supposed to say?_

Still not entirely sure what to write, she began with the obvious:

 _Dear Mom and Dad,_

 _I'm sorry for disappearing so suddenly but I just want to let you know that I'm okay. I won't tell you not to worry or not to look for me because I know it's pointless. I don't know when or even if I'll ever come home but I want you both to know that I love and miss you both so much._

 _Your loving and very sorry daughter,_

 _Faith_

She wrote her parents' address on the envelope then set down the quill and leaned back in her chair, examining the still wet ink on the paper. She'd have to wait for it to dry before she could ask Sammy to send it for her. Did they even have a postal service in… wherever she was? Hell? Probably not.

What was she supposed to do now? She could take a nap, she supposed, she was pretty tired. Then again, she could have a concussion from the crash and weren't you supposed to stay awake with those? She was also feeling pretty hungry as well. She hadn't eaten anything since the night before her accident, whenever that was. Though, if she wanted food she'd probably have to ask a demon or Sammy and she _really_ didn't feel like doing that.

 _Maybe I'll just not eat anything or sleep all day, see what Sammy does then. I'll be a more boring pet than a dead turtle._

That _would_ be the plan anyway but it simply wasn't in her to just sit around doing nothing. Faith was the type who had to get up and move, explore, _do_ something.

She looked over her shoulder at the rest of the room. Might as well start there. Since she'd already went through the desk and the bookshelves were empty, she decided to go clockwise around the room and start with the vanity.

Standing and kicking the chair back under the desk, Faith made her way over to said vanity. There wasn't anything on top but in one drawer there was a hairbrush, combs, and various other hair accessories. In the other were cosmetics, she seriously doubted she would ever use and perfume that smelled way too flowery for her taste.

Next was the chest-of-drawers where she found more outfits, pjs, under clothes, socks, and other various pieces of clothing such as scarves, jackets, and hats. Though with how hot it was here she doubted she would need any of the warmer pieces. In the armoire were… dresses. She didn't know how many there were but they all seemed to be of various lengths and styles.

Faith pulled one of the dresses out, a sleeveless, floor-length blue one, and held it up in front of her and studied her reflection in the vanity mirror. "Hm, not bad. But question is, why would I ever wear any of these? Is he planning on me going to some demonic ball or something?" She said that but surely hoped that wasn't the case.

Putting the dress back and closing the armoire doors, she moved on to the first bedside table where she found nothing. In the chest at the end of her bed were some extra blankets though she couldn't imagine ever being cold enough to use. The second table held the same as the first. Nothing. Which was almost disappointing.

Her exploring done, Faith flopped down on the couch and stared at the ceiling. She hadn't noticed it earlier but here was no source of light in her room. So how was it so bright in here?

 _Eh, whatever. For some reason, though, I expected more. But what the Hells is all this? I wonder if all those clothes will actually fit or if they're just a best guess. Did Sammy know he was picking up a chick? Or was this all brought in after I got here? Whatever, I guess it doesn't really matter._

She leaned her head back on the arm of the couch and was about to close her eyes and doze off when something caught her eye. One of the bookshelves, the one closest to the desk, was pulled away from the wall just the slightest bit. Behind it, she didn't see the red wall but darkness. She didn't think that the demons were lazy enough that they just painted around the bookshelf so there must be something behind it. Something like a hidden passage.

Getting up, Faith made her way over to the bookshelf and, grabbing the edges on one side, pulled. It swung open to reveal a dark passageway. She took a deep breath and almost choked on the hot musty air that invaded her lungs.

"Oh, I guess this is part of those hidden passages Sammy mentioned..." Faith muttered to herself.

She considered going through and seeing where it led but ultimately decided not to. She'd had enough adventure for one day and would have more time and energy to explore everything later. Right now she just wanted to eat something and maybe fall into an actual coma.

She pushed the door closed and made her way over to the drawers to grab a pair of shorts to change into. She wanted to at least be comfortable when she maybe fell into a coma. Finally crawling under the covers, she stared at the ceiling, wondering if she could somehow turn off the lights somehow or if she would be cursed to have the lights left on forever.

 _Eh, whatever. I can sleep with the lights on._

She went to cover her eyes with her arm and was reminded that she was wearing manacles when the chain dragged across her face. How she had forgotten them, she had no idea. Faith stared at her wrists and the tight metal bands around them as if by staring at them long and hard enough, she could will them off. Fat chance of that happening.

"Well, I guess it isn't _so_ bad. I mean, sure I had to abandon my family and friends and pretty much give up my entire life but look on the bright side! Uh, I probably won't have to work anymore. I'm being taken care of pretty good so far. I have a whole new wardrobe…" She struggled to think of something else. "Oh, as far as I know Sammy doesn't expect me to do anything like… _that_ with him. Gods I hope he doesn't." She shuddered at the thought before looking at the manacles around her wrists. She suddenly became acutely aware of the of the ones around her ankles and the collar around her neck. "And I'm sure I can make these cool somehow. Yeah, I'll start a new trend, a new accessory line called… The Forced Accessories of a Demon Prince. I'm sure that'll _totally_ work out."

She dropped her arms with a sigh. Who was she kidding? This was all horrible. But what could she do about it except accept what had happened and try to find the bright side?

Suddenly thinking of something, she clapped her hands twice and the room finally fell into darkness. Not too long after that, so did she.


	3. It's exploring time!

**It's chapter three, in case you couldn't tell. Though I'm pretty sure you could but what do I know? I'm just a simple OMG Pterodactyls in a simple world and I'm trying my best to find my waaaay! Is that a song? I feel like that's a song. Anywho! Thanks go to detrametal for being such a wonderful beta and Dragon Man 180 for the great idea. Thanks to you both and enjoy everyone! Remember to read, enjoy, and review! Or whatever. I don't particularly care. I care a little bit... Cinnamon rolls!**

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Faith woke up the next morning, what she guessed was the next morning anyway, to the sound of a door clicking shut and the smell of…

 _Holy shit, izzat bacon?_

Sitting up, faith rubbed the sleep from her eyes before staring into the darkness of her bedroom. Of course she couldn't see anything except slightly darker shapes where the furniture was. Closing her eyes in preparation, Faith clapped twice to turn the lights back on. She still ended up flinching at the sudden light now burning through her eyelids.

"Ow…"

Not waiting for her eyes to adjust, Faith flung off the covers, stood and stretched before heading to the center of the room where the delicious smell seemed to be coming from. Of course she bumped into pretty much every piece of furniture between the bed and the coffee table. She finally managed to flop down on the couch where she let out a huge yawn and finally opened her eyes.

The first thing her gaze landed on was the dome covered platter that seemed to be made of silver and was sitting on the middle of the coffee table. The second thing she noticed was that the door leading out of her room now had a handle on it.

 _Don't tell me I slept through someone installing a handle on a fucking steel door. They must've used magic or some shit cause I know I'm not_ that _heavy of a sleeper._

Deciding to ignore the how of that particular mystery for now, she instead lifted the cover off the platter and set it to the side. Under it was a plate full of bacon that was fried to crispy perfection, scrambled eggs that weren't too runny, half of a juicy red apple, and a glass of orange juice with lots of pulp. All of it was just the way she liked it.

 _Can the chef or whoever read minds or something? Whatever, maybe this place isn't so bad if just the breakfast is this good._

She picked up a piece of eggs with her fingers, completely ignoring the silverware that was laying beside the plate. She was a firm believer that scrambled eggs were a finger food, after all. The eggs were almost in her mouth when she remembered something.

 _Wait a sec… isn't there something about if you eat or drink anything from another world you'll be trapped there forever? Is it only fairies or does it apply to demons as well?_

She stared at her breakfast for a moment before shrugging and popping the eggs in her mouth, "Fuck it. I'm probably gonna be stuck here forever anyway whether I eat or not."

In one word, it was delicious. All of it was. Soon, all of it was gone. Faith sat back with a contented sigh, "Geez, that was good. But if that was just breakfast, I can't wait for lunch and supper."

Her breakfast finished, Faith went about her normal morning routine. She took a shower, brushed her teeth – though where the toothpaste and brush came from she didn't know – changed into a clean light blue t-shirt and black cargo shorts, and finished by brushing her hair at her vanity. Which wasn't easy since Samael had provided her with everything except a hair dryer.

 _Oh well, can't have everything I suppose. Like a normal life…_

She shook the thought from her head and looked in the mirror at the bookshelves behind her.

"Well, guess it's time to start exploring." Faith got up and looked back and forth between the door that she could now exit and the hidden passage behind the bookshelf. "But which way should I go? Hmmm, if I go through the door, I might run into Sammy and then maybe rely on other demons to get around. Don't really wanna do any of that. Buuuut if I go through the passage… I could get lost. Supposedly I'm being tracked so I don't really think that's much of an issue. It also looked really dark and who knows what's lurking in there. Then again, it is way more adventurous." She thought about each path though it didn't take her long to actually decide. "It seems like the only logical and fun choice would be the passageway so that's the way I'll go."

Faith made her way over to the bookshelves and swung open the one hiding the passage. She spared a glance back at her boots resting on the floor at the foot of her bed and thought about putting them on but remembered how uncomfortable they were with the manacles and decided against it. That distraction over, she finally made her way into the passage. No surprises that it hadn't changed since yesterday. It was still dark, musty, and just generally uninviting. At that moment though, who cared? This was better than any other option she had.

Since she couldn't see and couldn't find a light switch of any sort, she decided to keep one hand on the right wall as she went along. Turns out there was no need for that since once she was inside, torches along the walls suddenly flared to life. As she looked closer, she could see that there weren't any actual torches, just floating balls of orange flame. She was almost tempted to try and touch one to see if it was hot as well as bright but common sense won out and she didn't.

"Uh, thanks Sammy. I guess…" she said, unsure if he could actually hear her or not.

Either way, Faith walked on, continuing down the path that Samael had lit for her. She passed by a few branching passages but promised herself that she would explore them later.

During her little excursion, which seemed to stay at the basement level given the lack of stairs or slopes, Faith made a few discoveries. Every once in a while she would find small holes in the wall that were no bigger than a nickel and through them she could see the room beyond. Most even had what looked like doors beside them that probably led to said room. Most she saw were just empty rooms, some had a bit of furniture, others had more. She found what looked like a kitchen, numerous rooms with sleeping demons, a very large room, and she even found a couple of rooms where some demons were doing some very… unspeakable things.

 _Oh gods, I'm gonna have so many nightmares tonight._

One of the more… interesting things she saw was a room where a large red demon was caring for a brood of chickens. Faith watched for a while as the demon picked up chicken after chicken and held them tenderly as he – she guessed it was a he – fed them seed from his hand, making sure each one got its share of food and affection.

 _I would say I've seen weirder but I don't think I have._

Some of her more interesting discoveries, besides the demon and his chickens, were a room full of demons of all shapes, sizes, colors, and types, all which seemed to be gambling in some form or another. A computer room where two demons were looking at… she didn't really want to know. They were laughing so maybe it was just a funny cat video or something but she doubted it. Her favorite by far, however, was the dungeon. When she looked through the peephole at first, she couldn't see anything but darkness until multiple sets of red eyes blinked open, one large pair and four little. If she listened closely, she could also hear faint growling.

 _Oh, so not dungeons. Pens maybe?_

Curiosity overwhelmed her, she had to know what was on the other side of the wall. She just hoped that whatever it was didn't kill her.

Faith found the outline of a door beside the peephole. Unlike the hidden door in her room which swung open, this one was opened by pushing a slightly protruding stone beside the outline, making the door slide open with a loud grating sound. She briefly wondered why hers was different but let it drop when the door finally finished opening.

 _Someone really should oil this things. If… a stone door can be opened anyway._

With the light from the passage, Faith could see into the room well enough. The first thing she noticed was that they eyes belonged to a black dog and her puppies. Second was that they all seemed to be in a pen so she was safe for now.

She edged closer to the pen, trying to get a closer look at the dogs. She decided she was close enough when the mother stood and started growling even louder, the fur on her neck standing on end. Faith crouched down, trying to make herself seem less threatening. It sort of worked. The mother stopped growling but still watched her intruding human warily. The puppies were a different matter however, as they ran around yipping excitedly.

"Hey there," Faith said softly, "it's okay. I'm not gonna hurt you."

She crouched there and watched the puppies play with each other and try to squeeze through the bars to try and get to the newcomer. Faith smiled at their actions and decided that this was the best room out of the whole palace and that she would try and come her as often as possible.

 _Why are they down here though? Sammy doesn't really seem like a dog person… demon… whatever._

Faith didn't know how long she had been in the passages or the room but started thinking that she should probably start heading back. It seemed it was too late for that however, when orange balls of fire appeared floating along the wall behind her and lighting up the rest of the room.

 _Uh-oh… now that I think about it, maybe I shouldn't be down in here._

Hearing clawed feet click against the stone floor, Faith whipped around and ended up falling on her butt from her crouched position. In front of her now stood Samael with a smirk on his face. "Oh, uh, hi Sammy." Faith managed to get out. Even though she was fairly certain that he wouldn't just kill her, she couldn't quite get over her fear of the demon prince. Frankly, she thought that any normal person who could face this guy down and _not_ be scared was clearly insane.

"Faith," he greeted. For some reason it surprised her that he was using her name. "I see you have found some of my other pets."

"Oh… yeah." She said, looking at the dogs, who had all backed into a corner, instead of at the demon. "Sorry, I was exploring and I saw them and… the puppies are… cute."

The demon just chuckled at her and Faith decided that it was time to leave.

She stood, brushing the dirt from her shorts, and gave the demon a mock bow, briefly wondering if that was actually a good idea, "Well, it's been fun, I guess, but I should probably start heading-"

"Would you like one?" Samael interrupted.

Needless to say, this caught Faith off guard, "Uh… what?"

Instead of repeating himself, the demon prince swung open the door to the pen with a wave of his hand and one of the puppies trotted out. Samael simply picked it up and dropped it in her arms.

The thing seemed to be just a happy ball of fluff. Though upon closer inspection she could see that its fur was partially made of smoke.

"Oh, thanks…" Faith muttered, a little amazed but mostly confused. Who gave their pet a pet anyway?

"He is a Hellhound." Sammy informed her. "Keep him with you at all times. I am expecting guest soon and you may need him."

 _Well that just confuses things even more._

"Now return to your room."

"O-okay." Deciding not to argue with him, though it wasn't really much of a decision, and made her way over to still open door to the hidden passage. Once inside, she pressed the protruding stone again and the door slid shut. Sammy was probably right, it was probably around lunch time already and she was getting hungry again. She only got a few steps away from the door though when she sank to the floor and the puppy jumped out of her arms.

"Geez, for some reason, dealing with that guy leaves me exhausted." She told the ball of fluff that was currently nipping at her toes for whatever reason. Even if he didn't understand her, Faith was glad to have someone to talk to. Maybe that's why Samael gave him to her but surely that couldn't be the only reason. Whatever, maybe she would find out one day. Though she doubted it.

Faith picked up the puppy and held him in front of her. It looked back at her with those glowing red eyes, mouth open and tongue lolling out. "Whatever the reason, you sure are adorable." She told the puppy, earning a happy yip. "I think I'll name you Shade."

In answer, Shade barked again and tried to wiggle out of her grasp to probably lick her face.

"Glad you like it then. Now let's head back already." Setting the puppy down, Faith started the trek back to her room, Shade trotting along beside her, stopping every once in a while to sniff at something.

Eventually, they made it back to Faith's room, though she had to carry Shade the last little bit. It seemed he wasn't accustomed to walking such long distances. Though he perked up when they caught the smell of food wafting through the air.

Mouth watering, Faith picked up the pace and soon she was back in her room. After setting Shade down and closing the hidden door, Faith sat on the couch where, yet again, the silver platter was already sitting in front of her on the coffee table. Shade was already munching on a bowl of puppy food set on the floor beside the table, a bowl of currently ignored water beside it.

After making sure that he was actually eating and not just making a mess, Faith lifted the dome off of her own food to find a burger, fries, and a glass of soda. Yeah, she could definitely get used to this. Her suspicions of if the chef could read minds was proven wrong since if they could they would know that she hated onions. Anyway, the burger was delicious of course and the fries were fried and salted perfectly. It didn't take her long to finish eating and sit back with a very un-ladylike burp. She guessed Shade liked his food as well since his bowl was now empty and he was looking up at her expectantly.

Picking Shade up, Faith set him on her lap and started scratching him behind his ears. "You're such a good boy, aren't you Shade? I wish I had some toys for you but I guess socks will have to do for now, that that's okay with you. Also kinda wish I had a watch but oh well."

Shade just yipped happily, glad for the attention.

"Still don't know why Sammy gave you to me in the first place but I'm glad for the company. Speaking of which, I wonder what he meant by guests coming, ya know, besides the obvious. Who would come here willingly? And why did he feel the need to tell me about it? And why did he say that I might need you? Ugh, none of this shit makes any kind of sense. Whatever, I've got other things to worry about."

Setting Shade back on the floor, Faith was about to go take another shower – who knew exploring could get someone so dirty – when something on her desk caught her eye.

"I know this wasn't here earlier." Faith said, making her way over to the desk and picked up the new and mysterious object to find that it was a pocket watch. It was silver with a chain attached and a picture or a demonic face carved on the cover. She pressed the latch release and the cover flipped open to reveal a normal black and white face with roman numerals.

"Not really my style but can't exactly wear a wristwatch. Thanks Sammy!" She called out, still not sure if he could hear her. She looked at the watch again, this time studying the time. "Holy mother of Jeebus, it's eight o' clock?!" She guessed it was anyway since she didn't exactly have another reference. She wondered what time zone it was set on and even momentarily considered that this realm might even have its own time zone.

Faith shrugged and went to put her new time piece on her bedside table then went about her nightly routine. Before long, Faith was cozily wrapped up in her blanket with Shade curled up beside her feet and under the covers as well. Not long after that, they were both asleep.


	4. This wasn't fun at all

**Thanks go to my beta detrametal and I don't own Darksiders! Ya know, if I hadn't started this new series I never would have had to say that again… But anyway! Are y'll enjoying the ride so far?! No?! Yes?! I don't know why I'm even asking since I can't hear any of your answers but let's just assume mangos! That's right! Switching the sweet for a fruit! Mixing it up a bit! I want doughnuts…**

* * *

Faith walked along the passageway, Shade trotting behind her, a toy lamb in his mouth that he refused to let go of even for her to throw it for him. Every once in a while, when Faith would stop to look through a peephole, Shade would lay down and start chewing on his toy only to pick it up again when Faith continued on.

It had been about a week and a half since her first voyage through the passages but not much had happened. She had an almost complete map of the hidden halls, that she had drawn and labeled herself. She'd gotten to know a few of the demons, though she wouldn't exactly call any of them friends. Not yet, anyway. There was the chef, Alichino, her guard which she didn't know she had, Jabor, the caretaker of the chickens, Ulfric, and her personal maid/shopper, Ravira.

Faith's new demonic acquaintances were nice enough to her in their own ways. Chef Alichino would give her sweets and snacks and even let her taste test new recipes but would get mad if anyone called her anything but Chef Alichino or just Chef. Jabor would take her around the palace and seemed to know the history of every single thing from the vases to the carving on the walls and would unnecessarily protect her from other demons but didn't really like to talk and pretty much demanded to know when she was going to use the passages. Ulfric showed her around the "secret" and more fun rooms and introduced her to some of the other demons but didn't really care for Shade. Lastly, was Ravira who was the one that cleaned Faith's room, brought her food, and even went shopping for anything she needed but was such a huge gossip hound that it was surprising she got anything done. Out of the four, Alichino was the nicest, Jabor was the toughest, Ulfric was the most sociable, and Ravira was the friendliest. Though if she had to pick a favorite, it would probably be Jabor, though she wasn't entirely sure why.

Finally, Faith found the room she was looking for and pushed to stone beside the door, causing it to slide open. Inside she found Ulfric sitting in a corner and watching his chickens. Ulfric was a large demon with tough reddish skin, stunted and upside-down wings, large horns, a thick tail, hooves for feet, and only a few pieces of armor. To be frank, he definitely wasn't going to be winning any beauty competitions in the future.

Picking Shade up before he could run inside and start terrorizing the poor fowl, Faith carefully made her way across the straw covered floor and over to the demon.

"Sup Ulfric." Faith greeted, sitting down beside him.

"Hello Faith." He returned the greeting.

"What's up? You seem kinda down. Did Sammy find out about your little coop here?"

Ulfric finally looked away from his chickens to gaze warily at Shade who was sitting on Faith's lap and chewing on his toy, "Master Samael already knows."

"Then why so glum, chum?" she asked, almost wincing at how lame her own words were. Who said anything like that anymore.

Apparently Ulfric was thinking along the same lines as he just looked at her for a moment before answering, "We are expecting… guests today."

"So?" Faith shrugged. "This isn't the first time and I'm sure it won't be the last. It's probably just another demon lord or something."

Since she'd been here, Samael had a number of "guests" stop by. Most came for some kind of demon business or another. One or two had stopped by to congratulate the demon prince on his new pet and Faith got to find out what all those dresses in her armoire were for. She'd never hated anyone more than she hated Samael at those moments. Parading her around like some kind of trophy with a ribbon on it, who did he think he was?!

"No, it's not a demon lord." Ulfric said, snapping Faith out of her thoughts. "It's two of the Horsemen."

Faith looked up at him, confusion written across his face, "Oh? Who were they again? And how do you know this anyway?"

Ulfric smiled at her, or she thought he did anyway. It was had to tell with the fangs and all. "I have my ways."

Faith stood, still holding her Hellhound, "Well I don't see why you're so bummed out about it or what it's got the do with me."

Ulfric stood as well and Faith noticed, not for the first time, that he was almost three times her height, "They're probably coming here for you, Faith. Master Samael probably broke a rule or six by bringing you here."

"I told him that this was wrong in the beginning but did he listen to me? Noooo. Sammy can apparently do whatever the Hells he wants. Well fuck that now!" Faith huffed.

Shade tried to bark to show his displeasure as well but only ended up dropping his toy which Ulfric picked up for him. The Hellhound took the toy from the demon and tightly held on to it.

"Anyway, that's all Sammy's problem."

"Unless they try to take you away and return you to Earth then it becomes your problem as well." He pointed out.

"But if I try to leave here I'll… Sammy wouldn't let them do that, would he?"

Ulfric shrugged, "I do not know what Master Samael will do."

"Well, whatever, I can hide from them in my room or the passages or something. They'll have to find me first."

"Good luck." Ulfric chuckled.

"Whatever," Faith sighed. "I'm going to the kitchens for a snack, you wanna come?"

"No, Alichino is still mad at me for stealing that bread for the chickens."

"Suit yourself." Faith shrugged. "See ya later then." She said, making her way back into the passage and pressed the stone to close the door behind her.

"If the Horsemen don't see you first." She heard Ulfric say just before the door slid shut.

Faith was tempted to open the door again and let Shade chase the chickens or something but decided to let it slide for now. With a sigh, she set Shade down and pulled out her map. It had only been a little over a week so of course she didn't know the place by heart yet.

"C'mon shade, let's go to the kitchens. Maybe Chef will give you some meat or something."

Map in hand, it didn't take her long to get to the door to the kitchens. As soon as the door opened, Alichino looked up in surprise from where she was rolling out some dough. Chef Alichino was plump demon with greenish skin, stumps that used to be wings on her back, multiple small horns, tentacles hanging from her head that could have passed for hair, big black eyes, and was wearing meager armor and a stained apron that said "kiss the cook".

"Faith! What are you doing here?" Chef asked, waddling over to the human.

"Uh, I came to get snacks?" she said uncertainly, surprised at the demon's reaction.

Chef Alichino pushed Faith back into the passage, "Haven't you heard? There are very important guests coming and Master Samael wants you in your room in case he calls for you." With that, the demon reached past her to push the stone. "Good luck. You can come back later after all this is over if you still want a snack."

The door closed and Faith was left standing in stunned silence. She looked down at shade who looked up at her, toy at his feet and tongue lolling out. "I don't suppose you know what the Hells is going on, do you? Why Sammy would call me to meet someone who's going to try and take me back to Earth and possibly kill me?"

Shade's only answer was a small bark and tail wag.

"Didn't think so…" Faith let out a long sigh as she tried to figure out what to do next. "Well fuck going back to my room. And I'm definitely not going to put on another dress."

With that in mind and map in hand, Faith made her way through the passages and up two flights of stairs to the second floor. There she found the small door that led out onto a balcony that overlooked Sammy's throne room. Despite the great vantage point, she hated using this door because she had to crawl out and maneuver around the statue that hid the door. All in all, it was a good place to stay hidden while also getting to see what was going on but if she needed to make a quick getaway she might be in trouble.

Despite that, Faith sat so she could see between the stone railing and tried to make herself comfortable. "I wonder when these Horsemen are gonna show up." She told Shade who ignored her in favor of chewing on his toy. "Who exactly are they anyway?"

Faith had been told little about the Horsemen besides that they were the enforcers for something called the Charred Council, they protected the Balance – whatever _that_ meant –, and that she should probably stay away from them. Honestly, before now, she hadn't really cared too much. None of that had seemed important until now. She kind of wished that she'd learned more and told herself that she'd at least visit the library more often. Maybe she could convince Jabor to read the books that were in demonic to her.

Feeling that somebody was watching her, Faith snapped herself out of her thoughts and looked around. The only other ones currently in the throne room besides herself and Shade were Jabor, who was staring straight ahead like usual, and Samael, who was looking right at her. Still not happy about indirectly being told to go to her room like some child, she flipped the demon prince off. Not the smartest move, she knew, but her fear of him had diminished to the point where she would attempt such a thing as shooting him the bird.

Samael just chuckled, seemingly not angry at her behavior at all. In fact, he seemed to find her silly human behavior quite amusing.

Just as she was wondering if she should have brought a book or something, the door to the throne room crashed open, attracting their attention, and two figures strolled in. The first one was covered had to toe in form-fitting silver armor with a purple scarf around his neck, glowing yellow eyes, spikey black hair poking out from the back of his helmet, had two pistols in holsters hanging from his belt, and was acting as if he owned the place.

The other was huge, though not a big as most of the demons around here, with black, silver, and bronze armor, a red hood that looked as if it use to have a cape attached long ago, a stern face, glowing bluish-white eyes, white hair, a left hand that was way bigger than his right, and a massive sword strapped across his back.

 _These are the Horsemen? Well, I can't say I'm disappointed._

"War, Strife," Samael greeted them, "what brings the Horsemen to my home this time?"

 _As if you don't already know._

"As if you don't already know." The one encased in metal said, Strife she guessed, mirroring Faith's thoughts exactly. She found it odd that even though his helmet fully covered his face, his voice didn't sound muffled at all.

"The Council knows you have a human girl held captive here." The one that _had_ to be War said.

That made Faith think for a moment. Was she really being held captive? When she thought of "being held captive", she thought of someone tied to a chair or locked in a dungeon and a ransom or something being demanded for their safety and/or return. Then again, maybe she just watched too many movies. She was kind of trapped here but she was also given free reign of the palace. Anything she needed or wanted was provided. She wasn't being treated badly or harmed and the only threat to her life was if she tried to leave the realm. Lastly, as far as she knew, there was no ransom being asked for. So no, Faith didn't think she was "being held captive", she was just being kept as a pet by a guy who was bigger, stronger, and smarter than her but had some serious abandonment issues that should probably be checked out by a professional.

"And what if I do?" Sammy smirked.

"Stop trying to play games with us Samael." Strife demanded. "We know she's here somewhere and we're her to take her back to Earth. It doesn't matter who you are, you can't keep humans as pets."

 _I tried telling him that but he wouldn't listen to me so I kinda doubt he'll listen to you. But Sammy wouldn't let them take me, would he? He knows I'll be killed if they do._

"You can take her…"

 _…What?_

"If you can find her."

"You bastard!" Faith yelled, springing to her feet and leaning so far over the railings she almost fell. "You know good and well what'll happen if they… shit…"

"Well that was easy." Strife said before getting a running start, jumping, grabbing on to the balcony floor through the railing, and flipping up onto the balcony itself.

Faith let out a little yelp of surprise but had to admit that she was impressed.

 _I guess someone never skips leg day, that was like a twenty foot jump._

Deciding to be impressed later, Faith tried to scramble away to the door behind the statue. As she was crawling back to her escape, Strife grabbed her ankle and pulled her back.

"Geez, you're making me think you don't want to go back."

"No, listen, if you try and take me out of this realm I'll die!"

The Horseman scoffed, "Did Samael tell you that? He lied to you, stupid human."

"It may be a lie but I'd rather not take the chance."

"It doesn't matter what you'd rather not do, you're coming with us."

"Fuck no I'm not!"

Before Strife could say anything else, the sound of an animal growling followed by what sounded like something scraping against metal assaulted their ears. Both Faith and Strife looked down – or maybe up in Faith's case – to see Shade trying to chew on the Horseman's leg.

"What the Hell?" Strife wondered aloud. Faith couldn't see his face but she could imagine he wasn't too happy at what her Hellhound was doing. Especially since he seemed to be reaching for one of his pistols.

"You will _not_ hurt my Shade, you bastard!" Faith yelled before kicking the Horseman under the chin with her free foot.

Whether in surprise or actual pain, Faith didn't really care, but Strife dropped her all the same. Faith just barely managed to avoid hitting her head on the floor. Ignoring the pain the best she could, not a very hard thing to do considering the adrenaline currently coursing through her veins, she quickly sprang to her feet.

"Ugh, you little bitch!"

"I know you are but what am I?" Faith retorted lamely, grabbing Shade who was still trying to chew through Strife's armor. Puppy in hand, she grabbed the railing with her free hand and used it launch herself over the railing and off the balcony. "Jabor! Catch!" she called to her demon guard.

As she knew he would be, Jabor was waiting below the balcony. Jabor was another large demon that was almost covered from head to toe in armor that looked suspiciously like bone, large horns, and orange eyes. As she also knew she would, the demon safely caught her.

"Thanks buddy." Faith told him, patting him on one armored shoulder before jumping out of his arms. Not waiting on any sort of "you're welcome", she set Shade on the ground and started running for the door leading out of the throne room. She wasn't worried about her Hellhound being able to keep up or not. She'd learned pretty early that he could be very fast when he wanted to be, along with vicious and protective as well.

The only thing standing between her and the door now was the other Horseman, War, and with Strife probably somewhere behind her now, turning back was definitely not an option. She considered the fact that they were both had weapons but since they wanted her alive and probably unharmed, she didn't think they'd use them. So now her obvious choice, and currently only plan, was to try and make it past War, out of the throne room, and back into the secret passages where she could easily find somewhere safe to hide until the Horsemen left for some reason or another. Shouldn't be too hard, right? Wrong.

 _This guy's probably a lot faster than he looks but here goes…_ Faith thought as she ran towards the War and possible her capture.

As expected, once she got close enough, War reached to grab her but at the last second Faith dropped to the floor and slid under the Horseman and out of reach. Quickly getting to her feet, Faith ran to and out the blessedly still open door.

 _Man am I glad I played softball and ran track in high school._

With that in mind, Faith briefly wandered if fate and destiny and all that was real or if it was just a coincidence that her hobbies from over a year ago were coming in handy now. Maybe Samael specifically chose her because of that… Faith shook her head, no that couldn't be it. That would mean that Sammy either dug up files on her somehow or had been watching her for a while now. Even Sammy wasn't that creepy… was he? Nah, it _had_ to be a coincidence.

 _Now isn't the time to be thinking about all that!_

Not stopping to really consider her options, Faith just kept running, picked a door at random, and ducked inside, though she did have a little trouble trying to open and close the heavy door. She ignored the demon that was already in there in favor of running to the far wall and searching for the door she knew was there. She found the switch, another slightly protruding stone near the floor and almost hidden behind an empty vase.

She quickly pushed in the stone and slipped through the door as soon as it was open wide enough then pressed the stone on the other side to close the door, hopefully hiding her escape route. Once she thought she had gotten far enough away, Faith finally stopped running. She stood there bent over for a moment, hands on her knees and gulping in air.

"You think… we… lost him?" Faith asked her Hellhound in between breaths.

Shade just yipped happily at her.

She couldn't help but smile at him. Now that she had a moment, she checked her pocket watch which, amazingly, hadn't fallen out while she was running. She was surprised to see that it was only a little after lunch time. It seemed as if a lot more time had passed.

"C'mon boy, let's head back to our room, maybe Ravira has already brought lunch. Wonder what Chef made today…" she trailed off, mostly talking to herself now.

Feeling safe now and confident that the Horsemen wouldn't be able to find her among the passages, not like they could actually fit anyway, Faith and Shade calmly walked back to their room. Until they heard the sound of metal scraping against stone.

Faith felt her blood run cold as she turned to back to see Strife squeezing his way down the passage towards her.

 _No fucking way…_ She thought as Shade started barking at the intruder.

Not wasting any time, Faith picked up her Hellhound and ran. Again.

"Get back here you damn human! If my armor needs repairs you're paying for them!" she heard the Horseman yell behind her.

"I don't have any money!" was the only thing she could think of to yell back.

Unsure of where else to go, Faith ran all the way back to her room, checking over her shoulder every now and again to make sure the Horseman wasn't catching up, and Shade barking the whole way. Once she was in the relative safety of her room, Faith slammed the bookshelf closed and leaned against it.

"Ok Shade, I need you to be quite now." She told the Hellhound, setting him back down.

Like the good and smart puppy he was, Shade gave one last bark before going silent.

"Good boy." Faith told him, now scanning the room for something she could use to barricade the door. She was happy to see that Ravira had indeed brought her lunch. Maybe she'd be able to enjoy it if she survived all this… She had decided to try and see if she could push the couch over but before she could even take a step towards it, the hidden door was thrown open, knocking her to the ground where she hit her head painfully on the ground.

 _Ow… how the bloody Hells does he keep finding me?! I_ know _he didn't see me come in here._

"That's enough running, human." Strife growled. "You're coming with me."

Still dazed, Faith couldn't answer or resist when as Strife picked her up by the back of her shirt and threw her over his shoulder. Strife carried her out of her room, slamming the door shut before Shade could follow, and into the throne room where Samael, War, and Jabor were still waiting.

"Let's go." The Horseman told his brother as he walked past him and out of the throne room.

Faith finally started coming back to her senses to feel something warm and wet on her face. Ignoring that and the trail of blood she was leaving, she looked up at Samael, "You're a bitch…" At first she wasn't sure if he'd heard her but knew he had when the demon prince smiled at her and waved.

Once they were out of the throne room, the doors mysteriously slammed shut behind them and Faith wondered why they hadn't done that before. She stopped thinking about that though when she remembered whose shoulder she was currently riding on and where exactly it was that they were taking her.

"Hey, wait a sec, you can't take me out of here." She told her ride.

"Not that I actually care but why not?" Strife asked.

Her head hurting – though whether it was from the head injury, being upside down for so long, or a combination, she didn't really know – Faith pushed herself away from Strife's back so that she was more parallel to the ground, "Because Sammy said that if I try to leave the palace these manacles will give me some kind of warning and if I try to leave this realm they'll kill me."

"Stupid human…" Strife mumbled.

"He most likely lied to you so that you would not try to leave." War explained.

Faith glanced over her shoulder at the front door that was now looming in front of them. She'd been close to it before, of course, but never dared to try going outside. She had no idea what Sammy's "warning" was like, after all. "I wouldn't doubt it but I'd much rather not test that theory."

"Too bad. Humans belong on Earth and that's where you're going." Strife told her as if his word was absolute.

Without another word, War pushed open the doors and they walked through.

Faith closed her eyes in anticipation but when nothing happened for the first few moments, she opened them again.

 _Huh… so maybe Sammy was lying after-_

That thought was cut off when she felt a tingling sensation start to engulf her body. The best way she could describe it was the feeling one got then their foot fell asleep or the feeling that reminded some people of tv static.

 _Is this it? I expected something… more._

Suddenly, the tingling sensation turned to one of intense pain. It was as if her whole body was being simultaneously stabbed by millions of burning needles that were slowly being pushed deeper into her flesh. She gasped at the abruptness of it before screaming. The next thing she knew, she was falling to the ground where she cracked her head painfully against the ground for the second time that day. She barely noticed it. Her new head injury was nothing in comparison to the pain that continued to wrack her body. She did her best to curl into a ball as she felt something warm and wet run across her face, though she couldn't tell if it was tears or blood. At the moment, she didn't really care.

Strife and War could only stand and stare at the human writhing on the ground as she continued to scream. They might have thought that she was faking if it wasn't for the mixture of blood and tears flowing from her tightly closed eyes along with more blood coming from her ears and nose. They also noticed that the manacles around her wrists and ankles, along with the collar around her neck, were currently glowing a bright red. Both Horsemen had seen their fare share of disturbing things but they didn't know what to think of this. They were told that Samael considered the girl to be a prized pet but if that was the case, why was the making her suffer like this?

Almost without them noticing, a demon walked out of the palace and picked up the human. He looked at them with clear disdain in his orange eyes, "Master Samael says that if you are done torturing his pet, he would like to have her back now."

They could barely hear him over the human's screams of agony but in their surprise they couldn't answer anyway.

With that, he turned and walked back into the palace. The change was almost instantaneous. The human finally stopped screaming and the silence that followed was almost just as deafening.

For Faith, the palace was a sanctuary now more than ever. As soon as she was carried in the pain stopped almost as quickly as it had started. The sudden lack of pain was such a surprise that she passed out from the sudden and blessed relief.

When she woke next, she found herself in her bed, Shade curled up beside her on one side and Ravira sitting on the edge of the bed on the other.

Ravira was the most human looking demon that Faith had seen, not that she had seen many. Her skin looked like a moonless night sky, and she had piercing leaf-green eyes, hair that was almost an electric blue hair, horns that resembled a ram's, and was wearing a French maid costume that she got from who knows where.

"Faith!" the demon exclaimed, noticing she was awake. "You're finally awake! We were _soooo_ worried about you."

"What happened?" Faith groaned, her voice barely above a croak. "I ache all over."

"You don't remember?" Ravira asked, dabbing at Faith's face with a wet cloth that came away bloody. "Well I guess that's a good thing considering what happened. Actually you probably just blocked it out because of how bad it was. I've heard of that happening before. Something bad happens to someone and it's so traumatic that they completely block it from their memory. Yeah, that's probably what happened to you."

Faith already knew better than to try and interrupt the demon so she just closed her eyes and let the words flow over her.

"But anyway, what happened was that the Horsemen came and tried to take you away back to Earth but you gave them the slip and made Strife chase you through the passages, which he really didn't seem too happy about. Anyway, he caught you, which reminds me that you have like two concussions now and a lot of demons lost gold because they were betting that you would get away. After all, you know those tunnels the best out of anyone here. Well, except me of course. But back to the story now. After Strife caught you, he and War tried to take you out of the palace but when they did you started screaming and bleeding all over the place. I'm told that it was really nasty and scary but didn't see it for myself, only the aftermath when you got here which was nasty and scary enough. After Strife dropped you, which is how you got concussion number two, Jabor went and got you. As soon as you came back inside you stopped screaming and passed out and Jabor brought you here. He's such a nice guy, isn't he? And a hunk too, though not as hot as that Horseman War. Anyway, when you got here I started healing your wounds and cleaning all the blood off your face. And here we are all caught up. Oh, and don't worry, the Horsemen left a while ago. Probably going to report to that stupid Council of theirs."

"Thanks Ravira." Faith said, unable to tell the demon that the whole recap wasn't necessary since she remembered most of what happened, just not the last bit. "I don't know what I'd do without you." She continued, cracking one eye open to look at the maid.

"Probably die." She shrugged. Ravira wasn't boasting, if it wasn't for her healing abilities, Faith probably would have died within the first few hours of being brought to Black Stone.

Faith chuckled weakly at her answer, "Probably."

Her job done, Ravira stood and picked up a bowl full of bloody water, "Now that you're face is all blood free, I should let you get some rest. Oh, Chef sent you some chocolates, by the way." She said, setting a cloth bundle on the bedside table. "They're really good. I may have sneaked one or two…" she said quietly as she hurried out the door.

"Thanks…" Faith mumbled, too tired to be mad or amused. It wasn't long before she fell into a deep and dreamless sleep.


	5. Fight the power!

**Of course thanks go to detrametal for being such a wonderful beta and I don't own Darksiders. I know it took a while but I finally got this chapter done! Yeah, yeah, I know, took me long enough. Turtles. What's my obsession with turtles, you ask? …None of your business. Enjoy chocolate chip cookies!**

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She stalked up the stairs, past Jabor, and into the throne room. Once there and standing in front of Samael, she threw them light pink dress she was carrying on the ground. She was tempted to kick it into the lava but decided to save it for later.

"I will _not_ wear that abomination you call a dress and I _refuse_ to be treated like a damn dress up doll!" Faith yelled at the demon prince.

In response, Samael just gave her his usual smirk.

The human just glared at him, waiting for him to say something. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Ravira standing at the top of the steps and looking anxiously between her and Samael. Faith didn't understand why the demon maid was acting so nervous, none of this was her fault. She had tried her best to convince Faith to put the dress on but the human just wouldn't do it. Besides, this wasn't the first time something like this had happened and it certainly wasn't going to be the last if Samael kept trying to put her in a dress so that he could show her off. It wasn't that Faith didn't like wearing dresses, though she did preferred jeans and a T-shirt, she just hated being treated like a doll. Though she wasn't sure which was worse, being treated like a doll or like a pet. Either way, she absolutely refused to put on that hideous combination of cloth and lace that dared to call itself clothing and made her feel like a three year old on Easter Sunday.

"Why do I need to put on a damn dress anyway? Are you expecting another guest you want to show me off to? Because they can shove it if that's the case." Faith said to the demon when he still hadn't responded beyond a facial expression.

"Quite the opposite," he finally said. "We're going to go visit someone."

Faith definitely wasn't expecting that. _Does he have a mom or something he wants to show his new pet to?_ "What? Why? _Who_? I thought you said I couldn't leave this realm?"

"As long as you are near me, you can go anywhere you want."

 _Anywhere_ you _want, you mean._ Faith crossed her arms in defiance, "Fine, I'll go but don't expect me to hold your hand and I'm _not_ wearing a dress. Especially not" she bent down to pick up the pink monstrosity at her feet, "this one."

With that, she walked over to the large lava pool surrounding the room and dropped the dress into the molten earth. Faith glared at Samael as the clothing burst into flame and quickly turned to ash.

The demon prince just chuckled and waved his hand at her.

The next thing Faith knew, she was waking through what looked like a huge cavern, though she couldn't see the ceiling and there was nothing around her except Samael and some cracked rock floor that seemed to go on forever. Speaking of the demon, he was walking beside her and she was almost having to jog to keep up with him and was holding her small hand in his huge clawed excuse for a hand.

"What the fuck?!" she yelled, ripping her hand out of his. "Where the Hells are we? How did we get here? Why don't I remember anything?"

"We are in the domain of the Charred Council and I brought us here." Samael answered, that not hated smirk still on his face.

"Well why don't I remember getting here? Did you hypnotize me or something with that little hand wave of yours?" Faith came to an even worse realization then. "My Gods, this isn't even the first time you've done that to me, is it?!" she demanded, remembering certain lapses in her memory. "Fuck this and fuck you and fuck those Council shits! I'm going back." She turned to leave, not even sure about _how_ exactly she would get back to the palace, when she seemingly tripped over her own feet and fell flat on her face.

Faith slowly pushed herself onto her knees with an "ow" and that was when she noticed what she was wearing. Ravira or Samael one – hopefully Ravira – had gotten her into a spaghetti-strap black dress that fell to about mid-thigh and poofed out like a ball gown. A really short ball gown. The only decorations it had were small blue flowers and green vines stitched along the hem and the sweetheart neckline. She also noticed that she was wearing shoes. But not just any shoes, of course, they were black open-toed wedges with about a three inch heel. How she had not tripped over them already, she had no idea.

"Sammy?" she said, trying to keep her voice from breaking.

"Yes?" he answered.

"What is your obsession with making me wear dresses?" she asked, deciding to not even touch the subject as to why he was holding her hand. That was an issue for another day.

"I want my pet to be properly groomed when I introduce her to those of importance." He chuckled.

 _Bullshit._ She though to herself but aloud she said, "Let's just get this over with then."

Brushing the dirt off her dress, she got up and stalked past Samael, trying her best not to trip again and keeping her head down so that he wouldn't see the unshed tears of frustration shining in her eyes.

Either because he got what he wanted or there was just nothing more to say, Samael didn't respond and just walked behind her towards their destination. Though Faith still had to basically jog in order to stay ahead of him.

It didn't take them long before they suddenly arrived at the bottom of a long set of stairs. Faith was surprised at the sight of the stairs since she _knew_ they weren't there before, but tried not to show it or slow down and just continued up the stairs. By the time she reached the top, she was out of breath, her feet hurt like Hell, and she wanted to hit Samael for dragging her here and making her wear those stupid shoes. She wasn't sure what good it would do, in fact, it would probably do more harm, but she definitely wanted to try. She forgot all of that though when she caught sight of what was waiting for her.

It was as if she could feel the weight of all their gazes and it was crushing her. She tried to take a step back, forgetting that she was at the top of a very long flight of stairs and if she fell it would probably kill her. Luckily, or perhaps unluckily, Samael was standing right behind her, preventing a fall.

Not wanting to wait for his pet to get over her surprise, Samael pushed Faith forward, making her stumble. She shot him a glare of annoyance over her shoulder before straightening herself and walking forward. Faith tried to keep her expression calm even though she was very nearly panicking on the inside. She felt like running from this place as fast as her legs would carry her and never looking back. She felt like punching Samael even though she knew it would do no good. She felt like hiding behind something and curling into a ball until it was all over. Hells, she wouldn't even mind hiding behind the demon prince like a child if it meant she would be out of the line of sight of those around her. But she couldn't do any of those things so instead she kept her head high, walked forward, and studied her surroundings the best she could.

Firstly, she seemed to be walking towards three stone heads whose eyes and mouths were filled with fire and were sitting in a pool of lava. Considering her current options, she guessed this was the Charred Council. To her right were the two Horsemen she recognized, Strife and War, and two others she guess were Death and Fury. Faith remembered reading about them in Samael's library but it didn't give descriptions. Death looked like a gaunt yet somehow muscular corpse and had a mask of bone covering his face so that only his glowing orange eyes could be seen.

 _Oh yeah… didn't she really hate orange? I bet she would really hate this guy especially since he looks way too serious… I wonder how she's doing…_

Fury, meanwhile, was pale but not corpse pale, with black tattoos framing her face, white eyes that reminded her of a blank canvas, and purple hair that just seemed to float around her head.

Lastly, and to her left were… angels. Well, now she had seen everything. Even though she had seen a realm full of demons and it made sense that there were angels out there somewhere, Faith was still surprised to actually see them in person. The first had white hair and eyes with a white tattoo on his forehead, he wore a blueish-green robe with gold trim that touched the floor, gold and dark grey shoulder pads that matched the large ring on his back, he also had very large and impressive wings. What Faith found weird was that some of his feathers were much longer than the others and had some sort of glowing blue runes on them. The angel beside him was almost the complete opposite. If the first one was a wizard, the second was definitely a warrior. He had silver hair and white eyes – though one was covered by an eyepatch – and was wearing white and gold armor with a blue robe underneath and a mantle of white feathers on his shoulders. His wings, while not as amazing as the first one's, were still quite impressive and he was carrying a sword that was longer than the angel was tall. The look in his eye made Faith shiver. He was looking at her as if he wanted something and she was the perfect tool for him to use to get it.

Her observation of the platform's occupants done, Faith looked forward at the three stone faces again. _What is up with all this? Who_ are _all these people? Why do I feel like I'm on trial? What for?! That doesn't make any sense! I didn't do anything! This is all Sammy's faul-_

Yet again, and thanks to her heels, Faith tripped and fell flat on her face. In one way, she was thankful for it since it stopped her from slowly spiraling into madness. On the other hand…

 _Ow…_

She lay there refusing to get up as she listened to what sounded like Strife laughing and saying something about how she could have worn something cuter.

 _Of course I'm not wearing any shorts under this damn dress… Sammy wouldn't be that nice to me._ She thought, feeling her face heat up in shame.

"Do you need some help?" she heard someone ask and looked up to see the wizard angel standing over her and offering his hand.

Faith looked back and forth between the angel's face and his hand before finally taking the offered hand and being helped to her feet. "Thanks…" she told her new favorite angel, not that she had met many.

The angel just smiled before returning to his place beside what she assumed to be his friend.

Once she was steadily on her feet, she carefully took off her heels before throwing them at a still laughing Strife. One of the shoes hitting him in the chest and the other in the face of his helmet shut him up pretty quickly.

"The Hell?!" The Horseman exclaimed, running a hand over his helmet where the shoe hit him.

Faith just stuck her tongue out at him and shot him the bird, "Whatcha gonna do about it jackass?"

Intent on showing her exactly what he was going to do about it, the Horseman started towards the human. Whatever courage she may have had suddenly gone, Faith hid behind Samael, ignoring that hot sharp rocks digging into her now bare feet. She wasn't sure why she decided to hid behind him, she just did.

" _ **Enough!**_ " one of the stone heads yelled, causing the Horseman to freeze midstride and Faith to peek around her demon shield.

" _ **Samael, you know why we have called you here.**_ " The leftmost head said. She thought it was that one, anyway.

 _I think we all know why you called him here._ Faith thought with an eye roll. _But the question is why are the rest of us here? Especially those angels._

"I'm afraid I do not." The demon prince responded.

Faith gaped up at him in disbelief. _This bloody liar!_

" _ **You took a human from Earth and are keeping it as a pet.**_ " One of the heads said.

"Uh… her." Faith corrected, her voice sounding tiny.

" _ **What**_?"

Well now she'd done it. "I-I uh… I'm not an it. I'm a her."

" _ **It doesn't matter!**_ " Faith gave up on trying to figure out which one was talking.

 _I'd say it matters… No one_ I _know of likes to be called an it._

" _ **You are to remove the manacles and collar and return… her to Earth.**_ "

Faith nodded to herself, happy she wasn't being called an it anymore.

"I can't do that." Samael told the Charred Council, the smirk on his face letting them know that he was anything but sorry about that fact. "Once the manacles are put on, they are impossible to remove."

The human looked up at the demon again in surprise. She'd always assumed that he could take them off anytime, he just never actually wanted to.

"You think we will actually believe that?" the warrior angel yelled.

 _Oh no… please believe that. Last time someone didn't believe something Sammy said, I ended up getting hurt._

To show them that he was indeed telling the truth, Samael grabbed Faith by her left arm, right above the manacle, and lifted her into the air.

 _Why do I have a bad feeling about this?_ "Hey, wait, no, stop please." Faith begged the demon. "Whatever you're about to do, please don't. I'm sure they believe you, don't listen to that angel."

Her cries seemed to fall on deaf ears, however, as Samael reached for the manacle. Faith was struggling to pull her arm out of his group but stopped to watch as what looked like red lightning speared from the demon's fingertips to the metal around her wrist. At first, nothing happened. No sense of relief as the manacle fell off, no other sort of reaction as whatever he just tried to do failed, and no pain. It was almost, disappointing. Then, her world was filled with pain. Faith felt as if she had been struck by lightning before being torn in half and those halves were soaked in a mixture of gasoline and lemon juice then set on fire. All Faith could do was scream.

Thankfully, it only lasted a few seconds, though it had felt like forever. Once the spectacle was over, Samael dropped the human into a heap on the floor where she whimpered a bit but lay still. Did he like doing this time to her? Not particularly but if he hadn't shown them that even he couldn't remove the manacles, they never would have believed him.

Faith didn't remember being dropped, just the seemingly constant pain all over her body. She lay on the hard ground, too weak and tired to move. She didn't know how much more of this she could take. Sure, she'd only experienced this kind of pain twice but once was more than enough. She was vaguely aware of people yelling and it felt like someone had lifted her up and was cradling her but she couldn't be sure. She didn't really care either way now, she just wanted to sleep. It seemed the sandman hated her for some reason now since the blessed oblivion she was craving eluded her. Especially since she suddenly felt like she was being wrapped in a soft, warm blanket that was making her tiredness and the lingering pain melt away.

"She seems to be okay now." She heard someone say. Faith couldn't tell exactly who it was but it sounded like the wizard angel.

"What the Hell was that for?!" someone else yelled.

 _Is that… Strife? No way, like he would actually care._

"Yes, Samael, I believe that was completely unnecessary." Said, who Faith assumed to be, the wizard angel.

"It was completely necessary, Azreal." The demon chuckled.

 _So the wizard angel's name is Azreal? Good to know, I guess._

"If I hadn't demonstrated that it was impossible myself, you would have attempted to remove them yourself and killed my human in the process." The demon explained, acting as if he was a saint.

"Then I guess we better thank you." Faith groaned as she sat up out of the embrace of whoever was holding her and dispelling the warm blanket feeling. "Thank you for only _almost_ killing the human."

Thanks to a hand on her back, she was able to stay up. She glanced over her shoulder and was surprised to see Strife kneeling behind her but less surprised to see the wizard angel Azreal standing off to the side, his hands tucked into the arms of his robe. Slowly and with the Horseman's help since she hadn't fully recovered yet, Faith stood and glared at the blood prince who just smirked down at her.

"Fuck you, you bastard. You didn't have to prove shit and you know it. You just wanted to torture your 'pet' and show everyone that you cold do whatever you want to me and there's not a damn think they can do to stop you. So fuck you, you dumbass son of a bitch! I hope you burn in your own fire!" With that, Faith turned her back on the demon and stomped off towards the stairs. Yet again, she could feel everyone's eyes on her but she ignored all of them.

She'd dressed up, she'd shown herself to everyone that apparently mattered, and she'd unwillingly and painfully proven that she was trapped with Samael for the rest of her probably short life. Now that she thought about it, she'd done all of that unwillingly. But that didn't matter now. She'd don't what she'd come here to do and she was leaving.

There was one small problem with that, however. Faith wasn't even halfway down the stairs when she felt the tingling sensation encase her body. He knew what that meant and what would happen if she stayed where she was so she quickly took a step back and was relieved when the sensation disappeared. She wasn't sure if she could handle the punishment for straying too far from Sammy right. So she sat on the steps and waited for her "master" to take her back to the palace she had no choice but to call home.

With nothing else to do – she really missed her phone it times like these – she stared off into the distance and weighed the pros and cons of her whole situation.

 _Let's see, pros first… I don't have to worry about food, money, or clothes anymore… I have Shade… I don't think I'm in any real danger except when Sammy wants to show off what he can do… the demons seem pretty nice, especially those four… and I'm never really bored. On the other hand… I can never see my family or friends again, Sammy will probably kill me as soon as he gets tired of having a pet human, anyone else who isn't completely loyal to Sammy could kill me to spite him, I'm pretty much stuck in that palace unless Sammy feels like escorting me somewhere, apparently Sammy has a habit of hypnotizing me to play dress up, and forget what Sammy said about a warning since it seems that if I try to go outside for just a stroll I could die._

Faith immediately noticed that most of the cons centered around Samael being a sadistic asshole.

 _Oh, but on the up side, I'm pretty sure I don't have that Stockholm syndrome thing._

"I'm afraid I never learned your name."

Faith turned and was yet again unsurprised to see Azreal standing – no, wait, floating – a few steps up and behind her.

"It's Faith." She introduced herself, standing and sticking out a hand for him to shake. "You're Azreal, right? I head Sammy say it earlier."

"That's correct." The angel smiled at her, taking her hand in his own.

"It's cool to meet you, I guess. I mean, I've never seen an angel before. You have really pretty wings, by the way."

"Thank you. Faith, I've come to ask you some things." The angel said, tucking his hands back into the arms of his robe.

"Okay? Shoot." Faith said, wondering what the angel could possible want with her.

"How is Samael treating you?"

 _Is that it? What is this, pet human protective services?_ Faith thought before answering aloud. "Well, besides that little demonstration up there and the fact that he's apparently hypnotized me a couple of times so that I would dress up so that he could show me off, pretty good. I mean, nobody's really mean to me, I never really have to worry about anything like money or food, there's a couple of demon whom I could consider friends, and he even gave me a Hellhound for a pet. I still think it's weird he gave his pet a pet but who am I to judge?" Faith realized she was rambling at this point and quickly shut up.

"I see… do you not wish to go back?"

"Of course." Faith scoffed. "I do miss my family and friends after all but I realize that I'll probably be stuck at Sammy's for the rest of my life so might as well accept it and try to make the most of it."

"I see…" Azreal repeated. "I will return to the White City and search the libraries for a way to remove those manacles and collar from you so that you may return to Earth."

"Oh, uh, thanks. Good luck and all that."

"And to you." The angel smiled and nodded before continuing around Faith, down the steps, and eventually out of sight. Faith wasn't sure how he did it. One moment he was floating away and the next he was just… gone.

That slight distraction over, Faith just sat back down on the steps to wait. She didn't have to wait for long. What seemed like only a few minutes later, Samael came stomping down the steps and she silently got up and followed him. She only looked back once, though she wasn't sure why she did, but she saw the Horseman Strife standing at the top of the stairs, leaning on a stalagmite and watching them leave.


	6. Should have expected this

**Thanks to my wonderful beta detrametal and I don't own Darksiders! Sorry it took me so long to update but (enter excuse here). But that's why I'm not allowed within 500 feet of a giraffe on a Tuesday in March and can't own a water gun without the approval of a licensed therapist. Enjoy sherbet of your choice!**

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Strife watched as the Blood Prince and the human made their way down the stairs, the human turning back once to look at him before hurrying after her… master. The whole thing made him sick, which wasn't a feeling he was accustomed to.

"See something interesting?" asked a voice behind him.

Strife turned around to see Fury standing there smirking at him.

"I've never seen you so interested in another living being before."

"She's just a human." Strife shrugged. "Seems fun to play around with is all."

"Mmhmm." Fury hummed, unbelieving. "You think I'll believe that after seeing you drool over her? You're lucky she didn't notice you staring at her or she might think you were being creepy."

Strife scoffed, "As if everyone else wasn't staring too."

"So you admit it."

The Horseman was glad he was wearing his helmet so that his sister couldn't see his reddening face. He didn't understand it, she was just a human.

" **Strife, we have a mission for you**." The Council spoke up.

He could probably refuse… say that one of his brothers or his sister would be better for the job, whatever it was. But… it could be interesting.

"What is it?"

…

It was a few days after her visit to the Council when Faith woke up to a very unwelcome surprise. She and Shade were no longer alone in her bedroom, though how she failed to notice them entering her room in the first place, she had no idea. Maybe she was a heavy sleeper after all. She briefly considered the idea of trying to put up some kind of alarm system that would wake her up if anyone came into her room while she was asleep…

Faith almost screamed when she woke up and saw them standing there and hurried to try and cover herself with her blanket, silently cursing herself for being too tired to put any pajamas on after her shower the previous night. No, actually, she cursed Jabor for insisting on giving her some hand-to-hand combat training. Though, what good it would do against creatures that were at least twice her size, she didn't know. She wasn't too keen on finding out either. She went along with the training anyway, considering it an interesting way to pass the time.

Her initial surprise subsiding for the moment, Faith sat up, still clutching the covers to her naked chest, to see Ravira and Jabor standing at the foot of the bed on either side of the chest. She couldn't see their faces but they stood as if they were anticipating a fight to break out at any moment. She was wondering what could make them act like that when she looked over at the door out of her room and what was currently blocking it. Or _who_. She almost didn't recognize him at first since he wasn't wearing his helmet, but when she did she was _pissed_ …

"What in the bloody nine rings of Hells are _you_ doing here?!" She still hadn't forgiven him for taking her out of the palace.

The man smirked at her, "Hey there inmate number one, glad to see you're finally awake."

"The fuck did you just call me?

Before he could answer, Ravira turned to her then and Faith caught sight of some sort of dagger in the demon's hand which she quickly hid somewhere in her skirts. "Faith! I'm _so_ glad you're finally awake."

"Ravira," Faith practically growled at the maid through gritted teeth, her face red from embarrassment, "why didn't you wake me up?"

"Oh, I tried honey, but you sleep like the dead." The demon giggled before leaning in close, "You're lucky I got here before they did and covered you up. By the way, you really shouldn't sleep like that or you're going to catch a cold."

In response, Faith buried her face in her hands and mumbled out a "thanks" before deciding to try and change the subject, "Anyway, what the bloody fuck is _he_ doing here?"

The demon looked back and forth between the human and the Horseman, "Oh, well… uh…"

Faith was actually amazed that the demon seemed to be at a loss for words. Speaking of demons, she almost screamed again when she felt something fuzzy wiggle by her foot and was relieved when it was just Shade that crawled out and laid on her lap where he just stared at the Horseman. Speaking of which…

"I'm here to be your… legal guardian, I guess you could say." Strife explained, carelessly spinning his helmet on a finger like she'd seen people do with basketballs.

"I thought that was Sammy's position." Faith pointed out, just wanting him out of her room. He could explain all of this later when she had some clothes on.

"He's more of an owner, pup, while it is now, unfortunately, my job to check up on you to make sure you aren't dead or being corrupted by your demonic company. That'll be the case until we figure out how to get those shackles off of you."

 _What did he just call me? Pup?_ "I don't need a babysitter and you can tell those Council bastards to fuck off." Faith stated, trying to keep from yelling.

"And I don't need more work. Looks like we both drew the short straw."

"Fine." Faith huffed, "I don't need a babysitter who technically tried to kill me!"

"How were we supposed to know that would happen?!"

"I told you, you jackass! Multiple times! Now get out!" she yelled, pointing at the door behind him.

"Now why would I do that when I could enjoy such a show if I stayed here?" he smirked while making it abundantly clear where exactly he was looking.

Faith felt her face grow hot as she realized that her blanket had fallen a bit when she pointed at the door and hurried to pull it back up, not missing Jabor's growl at the Horseman, "Because you can see that I am very obviously alive, therefore, your job is done here and you are no longer needed. So. Get. Out."

"How do I know that you're actually alive?"

"What?"

"How do I know there's not a demon under those blankets using your corpse as a puppet?"

Faith stared at him, "That… is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard."

Strife shrugged, "I've seen it happen before. So the only way to know for sure is to check." He took a step forward, intent on checking his impossible theory.

Of course Shade started barking and Faith had to hold him back to keep him from attacking the approaching Horseman. Jabor saved the day though by stepping in the Horseman's way. He didn't say anything, just stood there and growled, holding his ax tightly. It was his job to protect the human, and that included protecting her honor as well. They all knew that he wouldn't be able to fight the Horseman, but by the nine rings he was willing to try.

It seemed Strife didn't feel like fighting at the moment as he just shrugged before putting his helmet back on, "Have it your way. I'll see you later, toots."

"Fuck you." Faith said as he finally left, shutting the door behind him.

Once he was gone, Faith released shade and buried her face in her hands once again, "Gods I hate that guy." Though she said that, she couldn't help but think of the way he held her when she met the Council and Samael gave his little demonstration.

Those thoughts were shoved away, however, as Ravira sat down on the bed beside her and started smoothing down Faith's bedhead, "I know sweetie, we hate him too."

"If you want," Jabor spoke up for the first time, "we could try and keep him out of the palace."

Faith looked at the demon who was dutifully looking straight ahead and away from her. No wonder he was her favorite. "No," she shook her head, "I'm not going to let you get in trouble or hurt on my account. I'm going to put up with him whenever he comes by and ignore him as much as possible."

"That's very mature of you." Ravira told her sounding proud.

Despite what she had said, Faith was actually thinking of ways to best avoid the Horseman. _Well, maybe not_ completely _avoid. After all, all he really needs to do is catch a glimpse of me to make sure I'm not dead then he should leave right? I mean, he pretty much said he hates this as much as I do so it would make sense that he wouldn't want to stay any longer than necessary._

"Now that little fiasco is over, I guess we will be leaving now." Ravira said, derailing Faith's train of thought.

"Huh? Oh, yeah. Thanks." Faith mumbled.

"Come on Jabor, let's go and let the… pup… get dressed." The demon said with a snicker. Apparently she found Strife's new nickname for the human pretty funny.

"Ah…" Faith began at a loss for words. "I'm not a dog!" Was the only thing she could get out before the demons left her room. "Fucking Hells…" she sighed, falling back onto the bed and closing her eyes. _I hope the rest of the day isn't this exhausting._

Perhaps sensing his master's distress, Shade licked Faith's cheek and let out a little worried yip.

"I'm alright but how did my life get _this_ screwed up, Shade?" she asked the actual pup, cracking an eye open to look at him.

Shade just barked and wagged his tail.

Faith couldn't help but smile at him as she scratched him behind his ears, "Yeah, I don't know either. She continued to pet the Hellhound, lost in thought and watching as the smoke that drifted off his fur curled around her fingers. She never got tired of watching it and it fascinated her how it just kept coming and he never left any soot anywhere.

Faith slammed her hands on the bed, making Shade jump. "Sorry buddy." She told him, sitting back up and reaching for her pocket watch. Seeing that it was actually almost lunch time, she decided to get dressed and head to the kitchen to get something to eat then… who knew. Maybe she'd go hand out with Ulfric. Yeah, that sounded like a good idea.

So that's what she did and the rest of the day passed by normally. After she and shade ate their lunch in the kitchen, they went to see Ulfric who took them to the gambling room where they watched him loose all of his gold at roulette.

"He's such a bad gambler, why does he keep going back?" Faith asked Shade as they made their way through the tunnels.

It didn't take them long to get to their destination which was the kennels. Ever since she first discovered the place, Faith made sure to come back every once in a while so that Shade could see his mother and play with his brother and sisters. It was something that all the Hellhounds seemed to enjoy, though the mother always just sat beside the human as they pups played.

After a while, an once the puppies had tired themselves out, Faith and shade returned to their room. Shade yipped happily the whole way, as if telling his human about what a fun time he had. When they finally go to their room, they enjoyed a delicious as usual dinner thanks to Chef Alichino, a nice hot shower, and were soon crawling into bed. All in all, and disregarding the little incident that morning, Faith though it was a pretty good day.

The next day, however, was not good at all.

She woke up the next morning to the sound of Shade growling under the covers and what sounded like a page being turned. She slowly cracked her eyes open but all she could see in the darkness was a slightly darker shape with glowing yellow eyes. This time she did scream and somehow managed to punch in figure in what was probably its face. Before they could try and hit back, she quickly scrambled backwards and fell off the bed.

"Shit! What the fuck was that for?!" yelled the intruder, their voice sounding familiar but a bit nasally now. "I think you actually broke my nose…"

Bracing herself, Faith clapped the lights on, causing the figure to yell again.

"Dammit! Seriously?! First you break my nose and now you're trying to blind me? What the Hell is wrong with you?!"

"What's wrong with me?" Faith asked, standing up. "What the Hells is wrong with you?! What the blood fuck are you doing in my room and in my bed?!"

"What I said I'd do and checking up on you. Did you already forget? Humans are more stupid than I thought."

"No, I didn't forget, I just didn't think it would be everyday." Faith huffed. "And I certainly didn't think you'd do it by reading a magazine in my bed."

"I wasn't going to do it every day." Strife said, picking up the _Playboy_ magazine he was looking at. "But I didn't have anything else to do today."

 _Where the Hells did he get a_ Playboy _?_ "So instead of perhaps doing something productive with your day, you decided to come bother me?" Faith asked, pinching the bridge of her nose. She could already feel a headache coming on.

"Pretty much."

All the human could do was sigh before putting together an outfit for the day and going to the bathroom to change, making sure to grab Shade and lock the door.

 _Maybe he'll be gone when I get out. Hopefully he'll be gone. I don't feel like dealing with this today._

Unfortunately for her, Strife was still laying on her bed and looking at his dirty magazine when she opened the door. As she was trying to decide on how to confront him, Shade ran past her into the room and started sniffing around the coffee table for his breakfast. Faith thought it was weird that Ravira hadn't brought it by yet but realized that she probably did come by, saw the Horseman, got the _very_ wrong idea, then left. Which meant that the whole palace probably had the _very_ wrong idea now and if she wanted breakfast she would have to go to the kitchen. She was okay with that but she would have to get rid of the Horseman first if she didn't want to possibly add fuel to the rumor fire.

"So what are you still doing here?" Faith asked the intruder. "You can see that I'm alive and I'm not a corpse puppet so why are you still here?"

"I told you, I don't have anything else to do today." Strife answered, finally closing the magazine and standing.

"I'm sure you could find something if you really tried."

"I did." He smirked, grabbing his helmet from the nightstand and sliding it on.

Faith rolled her eyes, "I meant something that obviously doesn't involve you being _here_ or bothering _me_."

"What's the matter toots? Don't you like waking up next to a handsome man?"

"Handsome? That's being a bit generous, don't you think?" Though she said that, Faith did find his sharp features a bit… attractive but there was no way in Heaven, Earth, or Hell she was _ever_ going to admit it.

The Horseman put a hand to his heart, "Ouch, that hurts."

 _If only._ She thought, picking up Shade and making her way towards the bookcases. Really she was supposed to let Jabor know when she was going to use the tunnels but that doesn't mean she always did. "Whatever, I'm going to go get some breakfast if you would be so kind as to leave. I'm sure you know where to door is."

"Great!" he said, clapping his hands together and completely ignoring her last comment. "I'm starving, what are we having?"

Faith glared at the Horseman before pulling open the not-so-secret secret door and stepping into the tunnel. Together, they made their was to the kitchen, Strife complaining the whole way about how small the tunnel was and how his armor was going to get all scratched up and that he was sure that there had to be another way there. Faith eventually told him to shut his trap and that if there was another way, he could go find it himself but not to expect any help from the demon. That shut him up though he still grumbled a bit whenever his armor scraped against the walls. By the time they reached the kitchen, Faith was about ready to kick the Horseman in the family jewels but decided not to since she'd probably end up breaking her foot.

She let out a sigh of relief when they finally reached the kitchen and opened the door to see Chef Alichino and Ravira sitting at the marble counter. It seemed she had interrupted their conversation as the Chef trailed off as the door slid open.

"Good morning." Faith greeted the demons, stepping into the kitchen.

"Good-" Ravira began but stopped when she saw the Horseman stepping out of the tunnel, almost dropping the chocolate bar she was eating in surprise. Come to think of it, Faith had never seen the demon eat anything _but_ chocolate.

"I couldn't get rid of him." The human explained, setting Shade on the floor. Once free, the Hellhound immediately ran over to Chef Alichino and started whimpering while looking up at her.

The demon laughed before picking up a dog bowl full of raw chunks of meat and setting it down for him.

"So what's for breakfast?" the Horseman asked.

Chef Alichino picked up a spatula and pointed it menacingly at Strife, "I promised Faith pancakes but I'm not obligated to feed _you_."

"Geez, I wonder if Samael knows his demons are so inhospitable."

"Do you think he really cares?" Ravira scoffed, breaking off a piece of her chocolate bar and popping it into her mouth.

Faith just pulled a stool over to the counter where a stack of golden pancakes drowning in syrup were already waiting for her.

"As long as we don't attack you directly or go against his orders, Master Samael doesn't care what we do." Chef smirked.

Tired of it all, Faith put down her fork and smiled sweetly at the demon, "C'mon Chef, I know you made way too many and I'd hate for all that delicious food to go to waste. Plus if we don't feed him I'll probably hear about it till I die and I know you'd like to have someone else who can appreciate your cooking."

Faith knew she had won her over when the demon started playing with a tendril of her tentacle hair as she pretended to consider Faith's words. "Alright, fine." She finally relented before fixing another plate for the Horseman.

That's how Faith's days went for the next week and a half. Faith would wake up every morning with Strife somewhere in her room. Most of the time she found him reading or looking at some magazine. One time, he was even playing a Gameboy. She would yell at him to get out, Shade would growl and bark a bit, then they would make their way to the kitchen for breakfast, then they would wonder around the palace until around lunch time when Strife would finally leave. Nobody liked that he just pretty much came and went as he pleased but what could they do about it?

The day started off normally enough, or what was quickly becoming normal anyway.

"Hey, give me yours." Strife demanded as he Faith, Shade, and Jabor made their way into the throne room. Samael was already there, sitting on his throne and reading some scroll. Of course he didn't acknowledge the new arrivals.

"What? No. Why?" Faith asked, stopping with her sandwich halfway to her mouth.

They had just come from the kitchen where Chef Alichino had made them peanut butter and jelly sandwiches as a midmorning snack.

"Cause it looks better than mine."

"Yeah, and it probably tastes better too but that's because Chef likes me more than you." Faith bragged, smirking up at the Horseman.

Strife frowned at the human before quickly snatching her snack out of her hands and replacing it with his own. It wasn't that hers actually looked better or anything, he just liked to annoy her every chance he got.

Faith just stood there staring at the new sandwich in her hands, wondering what kind of magic Strife had used to be able to do that without tearing the bread. She looked up at the Horseman, about to demand that he give it back but it was too late. _How the Hells did he eat that so fast._

Strife, as if sensing her thoughts answered, "I didn't use any magic, just skill and I lived with War for a while. If you didn't eat fast, you didn't eat at all."

Faith tried to picture the Red rider guzzling down food but couldn't quite manage it so she just ate her sandwich in silence. Though she did notice it tasted a little funny but just put it down to Chef using a new kind of jelly. Snack finished, they continued on their way through the throne room and towards the stairs leading down to Faith's room. From there, maybe she would go to the gambling room, or to see Ulfric, or maybe even to the kennels.

As she was thinking about how funny it would be to see Strife try to avoid the chickens, he hated the birds for some reason, Faith found that she couldn't move anymore. Suddenly limp, she began to fall but avoided getting another concussion thanks to Strife's quick reaction. Noticing something was wrong with the human almost as soon as she stopped walking, he was able to catch her just as she started to fall and gently lowered her to the floor.

"Hey, pup, what's wrong with you?" he asked, worry seeming to color his voice.

Faith couldn't answer, only stare straight ahead at the Horseman leaning over her. She tried to command her body to move but it wouldn't obey. She couldn't move, she could barely breathe, she couldn't even blink away the tears of panic that were welling up in her eyes. She was completely paralyzed.

A loud roar echoed throughout the room and Strife was picked up and thrown across the room and into a wall. "What have you done?!" Samael yelled.

"Nothing." Strife groaned as he dropped to the floor, landing on his feet but barely missing the lava. "She just collapsed. Why do you think this is my fault?"

Samael ignored him, "Ravira!"

 _I think that's the first time I've ever heard him use any of their names._

The demon maid seemingly appeared out of no where and knelt down beside Faith, "Hey there sweetie, don't worry we're going to get you all fixed up."

"What's wrong with her?" Samael demanded.

 _Aw, is he worried? That's new._

"Uh, sh-she seems to have been poisoned."

"Poisoned?" Strife asked, joining the group standing over the paralyzed human. "How the Hell did she get poisoned?"

"We can figure that out later. I don't know what poison was used or how much time she was left if it's fatal."

"Don't you have anyone here who knows about poisons?" The Horseman demanded.

"Ch-Chef Alichino knows all about them."

"Then go fetch her!" Samael roared.

 _Hm, that's the most emotion I've ever seen from him._

Without warning, Faith found that she couldn't breathe anymore. She tried to draw breath but it was as if someone was sitting on her chest, not allowing her lungs to expand. Even the constant and regular beat of her heart was starting to struggle to continue. She could feel it beginning to fail her. Faith came to the realization that she was going to die. Sure, the threat was pretty much always there but that's all it was, a threat. Now, death seemed like a very real and imminent issue.

Strife was the first one to notice that the human's condition had taken a turn for the worse. He picked her up, carrying the pale and dying Faith bridal style. "There's no time to wait for you to get back. Lead the way."

Ravira nodded and ran ahead to guide the Horseman to the kitchen and the demon, Samael and Jabor – who was carrying Shade – following along behind them. Ravira would have taken them through the tunnels but none of them would have fit.

Faith could only stare at Strife's determined yet worried face as he carried her through the palace, her vision going dark from lack of oxygen.

 _Hm, I guess it isn't so bad to die looking at a handsome face. Isn't that what every girl wants? Besides to not die at all but I guess you can't have everything…_


	7. Well, this took a turn

**Hello… I'm late again but I'm not going to apologize this time because I don't feel like it! Mwahahahahahaha! But anywhos, I don't own Darksiders and many thanks go to my beta detrametal. Also, booknerd104… we're fighting now. Also, also would like to thank the American Red Cross website for being the one place I could find that would give instructions on how to do CPR. You'd think that information would be easy to find on the internet but whatever. I'm rambling. Salt water taffy.**

* * *

It was an understatement to say Alichino was surprised when Ravira burst into the kitchen, followed by Strife who was carrying an unconscious Faith. Behind them was Samael, who looked angrier than she'd ever seen him, and Jabor who was toting Faith's Hellhound in one hand and his ax in the other. It was then that she really started to worry.

"What happened?" she asked as Ravira cleared off the counter so Strife could lay the human down.

"I think she was poisoned but I don't know with what and I cant' heal her." Ravira said, looking frantic. "You know all about poisons, right? Can you do something?"

Alichino visibly paled before turning on Strife, "This is your fault! You stole her food again, didn't you?!"

"What does that have to do with anything?" the Horseman asked.

The demon didn't answer and just made her way over to the many cupboards all around all around the kitchen and started throwing open doors. What Strife had once thought were full of food actually contained a myriad of jars, bottles, and vials filled with liquids and powders of various colors. There were even a couple of tanks where brightly colored frogs could be seen hopping around in their miniature jungles.

"Where is it, where is it?" the demon chef mumbled to herself, before exclaiming "Ah! Here it is!" and pulling out a small bottle full of a pale yellow liquid. She made her way back over to the human, pulling out the dropper which was already full of what everyone assumed was the antidote. Shoving the Horseman out of the way, she leaned over Faith and squeezed the liquid into the human's mouth one drop at a time. "That should work." She said nervously.

"'Should'?" Samael growled.

"It will work," she hastily corrected, "but…"

"She might need CPR to help her start breathing again." Ravira jumped in to save her friend, or former friend if her suspicions were correct. She put her fingers to Faith's throat and found a stronger pulse than there was before. "Her heartbeat is slowly returning to normal but her lungs need help to reflate."

"Move." Samael said, stepping towards his human, intent on doing it himself. Not that he knew how to but he felt a certain responsibility towards her now.

Ravira moved to stand in front of him, "Master Samael, if you try you'll most likely kill her. It has to be the Horseman."

"What?!" Strife exclaimed. "Why do I have to? Why can't you? Or her?" he asked, pointing to Chef. They all knew that Jabor would probably kill her as well so he didn't bother asking.

"Because neither of us know how and I _know_ you do." Which wasn't exactly true. She knew how to preform CPR but had seen the looks the Horseman gave Faith when she wasn't looking and wanted to help him anyway she could. Then again, she could just be imagining things, but who cared? She'd find out in a minute or so.

"Don't you have healing magic or something? Just use you demon powers or whatever on her." Strife commanded, wondering how she knew that he could do CPR in the first place.

Ravira narrowed her eyes at the Horseman's words, "Because my 'demon powers' don't work that way, stupid Horseman. I can only heal injuries, such as the ones you caused by taking her out of the palace. Which, I assume, you still haven't apologized for."

She was right, of course, but he wasn't going to admit that. "What does that have to do with anything?!"

Deciding that he had had enough, Jabor spoke up. "Just do it already!" the demon roared, causing everyone except Samael to jump and Shade to start barking. "She's going to die if you two don't stop arguing and do something!"

Ravira and Strife knew he was right and that they had wasted precious time. Hopefully it wasn't too late.

"Fine." The Horseman huffed and stepped closer to the dying human. She'd look like she was just sleeping if she wasn't so pale. For a moment, Strife entertained the idea that maybe it wouldn't be so bad to let her die. Surely that would almost be preferable to being trapped at the Black Stone for the rest of her life and having Samael do Creator knows what to her. He mentally shook himself. No, he couldn't just let her die. She was… well, he didn't know exactly what she was to him, besides just another annoying human, but he knew she couldn't lose her. He felt it would be like he was killing himself as well.

Strife really hoped he remembered how to do this right. He only learned because, like a lot of other things, he was bored and it seemed interesting. He never thought he'd actually have to use it one day.

 _Okay, chest compressions come first, right?_

The memories of how coming back to him now, the Horseman put his hands in the middle of Faith's chest, one over the other, and started pumping up and down. Though, he had to be careful not to press too hard or he might break her ribs.

 _One. Two. Three. Four._ He silently counted with each press. Next came the part he was really dreading. It wasn't because he hated the human or anything of that nature. If he had, he wouldn't be doing any of this in the first place. No, quite the opposite in fact. He'd been wanting to do this for a while not but was just waiting until the human realized she wanted it too. He wasn't a complete ass after all. But there was time to think about that later, he had more important things to worry about now.

As he'd been taught, Strife tilted Faith's head back, opening her mouth and pinching shut her nose, before taking a deep breath and sealing her mouth with his. Even though it wasn't a really kiss, he still felt a spark as their lips touched and somewhere behind him the demon maid let out a little squeal of delight. He knew this was what she really wanted but ignored all of that in favor of pushing air into the human's lungs. He repeated the process, the fear that he was too late growing with each passing second. Finally, after what seemed like forever, Faith's eyes flew open and she began gasping for fresh oxygen and coughing out the bad air.

"Faith!" Ravira yelled before running forward to hug the human.

"What… the _fuck_ … happened?" Faith gasped out in between breaths, Ravira helping her to sit up so she could get a better look at the room.

Strife thought it was a good thing that the demon was blocking him or else he might have actually hugged Faith himself. Couldn't have that now. As a Horseman, he had to retain some dignity.

"Well, what happened was…" Ravira began but Strife finished for her.

"You were poisoned by her." Strife said, nodding towards Alichino who was looking relived until Strife spat out his accusation.

Faith looked back and forth between the Horseman and the demon, "What? No, she wouldn't do that… would you?"

Alichino was tempted to lie, blame it on some other demon, but Samael would know and the betrayal in Faith and Ravira's eyes was making her chest ache with guilt. And they said demons didn't have hearts. "No! Never! At least not… intentionally."

"What?" Faith asked in disbelief. Alichino had pretty much just admitted to accidently almost murdering her.

"It was supposed to be for him!" the demon chef suddenly shouted, pointing a clawed finger at the Strife. "He was supposed to be the one to eat the poisoned sandwich so we could all be rid of him forever but he stole your food again. I should have know he would do that." She finished, burying her face in her hands.

"But why would you try and _kill_ me?" Strife asked incredulously. "Not that it would have worked."

Faith couldn't help but give him a droll look, "Yes, I can't imagine why _anyone_ would want to kill _you_. You're practically a saint. God's gift to the world, and all that." She said, sarcasm dripping off every word.

"That's what I'm saying."

"And so humble too." Faith added with an eye roll. "Plus she already answered your question. She thinks you're annoying and wants you gone."

"But I'm amazing, why would anyone want me gone?"

At this point, Faith couldn't tell if he was being serious or just messing with her.

"Faith! How can you just sit there and talk to him like that?!" Chef Alichino demanded. "He almost killed you as well!"

Faith turned, swinging her legs off the counter, to face the demon better, "Yeah, but his attempt could be labeled as stupidity-"

"Hey, I resent that!"

"-and being a bad listener."

"I'm a great listener, you just never tell me anything."

Faith glared at the Horseman before continuing, "I'm not saying it wasn't his fault, because it was, but it was more of an unintentional consequence. While _you_ , on the other hand, made a conscious and purposeful attempt on someone else's life but ended up almost killing someone else in the process."

Everyone was silent for a moment, staring at the human. Of course, Strife had to be the first to speak. "Wow, toots, never thought you'd actually defend me."

"Don't get used to it." Faith glared at the Horseman.

"Why did you _actually_ do it?" Ravira asked the demon chef. "You _knew_ the consequences of going against Master Samael's orders. Did you think you wouldn't get caught trying to _kill_ a Horseman? And I _know_ you're not the type to try and murder someone just because you don't like them."

Alichino was silent, probably trying to think of an answer before defiantly glaring at the maid and then Samael, "Well maybe you didn't know me as well as you thought. And I saw my chance and I took it."

"That's _not_ what she asked you." Faith interjected. She was quite pissed at the moment and not willing to put up with anyone's bullshit. She had considered Alichino to be a friend now and felt betrayed by her actions, even if they weren't directed towards her. Plus, she had hurt Ravira, who was also a friend, and couldn't let that slide.

"…I was ordered to do it." The demon finally answered.

No one expected that, except perhaps Samael. They all kind of assumed she'd stick to her original answer so this new response was a surprise. Not a particularly good one either.

"By who?" Samael asked, stepping forward to better confront he former servant.

Whatever courage Alichino may have had fled at that moment, "I-I don't know."

Unhappy with this answer, Samael stretched at clawed hand towards the chef and used some demon magic to pick her up and slam her into the cabinets. Wood splintered at the impact and the bottles and vials of poison crashed down onto the demon and the floor. Usually he wouldn't go this far but he was unable to see the answers for himself at the time due to some… other matters.

 _That's gonna be a bitch to clean up._

" _Who_?" Samael demanded again.

"I really don't know!" Alichino cried.

 _Sooo, does someone get to play good cop now?_ Faith looked around at the other demons and Horseman surrounding her and saw that none of them were going to make a move to jump in. Not that she could blame any of them. _Nope, guess not. Looks like we're just going to stick with bad cop today._

"I got my orders in a letter."

Samael still didn't like this and slowly started closing his hand into a fist and the sound of Alichino's bones cracking filled the room as he did so. Until it was drowned out by the demon's screams, at least. Which caused both Ravira and Faith to wince.

"It's best if you just talk." The demon maid whispered.

Faith was sure that nobody else had heard her but wondered if she was wrong when Alichino stated actually speaking.

"Okay, okay! I'll tell you everything I know!"

With that, Samael let her go and the demon fell to the floor.

 _Well, that was easy, all it took was a bit of torture._ Faith thought as she watched Chef push herself to her knees and noticed the black blood dripping out of the corners of her mouth and nose.

"Speak." Samael commanded.

Alichino looked at her former master, defiance putting some of the life back into her black beady eyes. "We are Reign of Chaos."

 _Kind of a lame name but okay._

"Our goal is to take down every major power in the many realms."

Everyone, including Samael was surprised speechless. They expected _something_ but definitely not _this_. Though Faith thought it was all a little cliché.

"Should we ask why?" Faith sighed, getting over her initial surprise. Given the name, she figured she already knew the answer but asked anyway.

The demon chef grinned, showing off her blood-stained fangs, "Isn't it obvious?"

"Yeah, but we want you to tell us anyway." Strife answered, causing the demon's grin to turn into a scowl.

"We want true and utter chaos and the only way to achieve that is to-"

"Take down every major power across the realms." Faith finished for her. "I think we got that the first time you said it. I'm also pretty sure there's more than just that one way to get 'true and utter chaos' but whatever."

It seemed Alichino didn't like being interrupted as she glowered at the human before replying "Yes."

"Then why would try to kill the Horseman?" Ravira asked. "I knew you didn't like him, none of us do."

"Hey! Everyone loves me!" Strife interjected but Ravira ignored him. "But that's no reason to risk yourself to kill him and I don't see how it would help your… cause."

Apparently this offended the Horseman, "I'll have you know that plenty of people have risked their lives trying to kill me _just because_ this didn't like me."

"I don't really think that's something you should be proud of." Faith whispered to him.

Chef ignored them to answer the demon maid's question, "Because we can't kill the Charred Council with their enforcers protecting them."

Faith turned to Jabor then, who she considered to be the second smartest demon in the room, "How can someone kill the Charred Council if they're just a bunch of stone heads?"

For once, the demon didn't have an answer. Though it wasn't for certain whether it was because he didn't know or because he would get in trouble for actually answering with one of those enforcers in the same room.

Faith just shrugged and turned back to the former chef. What were they supposed to do now? They had gotten all the answers they could out of the demon but they couldn't just kill her. Could they? Would Samael hand her over to the Council? Maybe they could get something else out of her. Or would she be locked in the dungeons? Maybe tortured? That would make visiting the Hellhounds pretty awkward. Maybe they could brainwash her so that she wouldn't remember any of this happening or ever even attempt something like this again. Though that seemed to sci-fi and very unlikely. Would they just do nothing? That seemed even more unlikely.

It was Samael's call but before he could decide to do anything, Alichino made a sound as if she was choking and they could only watch in horror as she stared convulsing on the floor and bloody foam poured out of her mouth. After what seemed like hours, but was actually only a few seconds, Chef Alichino stopped moving and slumped over, obviously dead.

 _Well… that was a bit… disappointing._ Though that was the thought that was went through Faith's mind, she was more than a little disturbed to see the demon die so horrifically.

"What… happened?" the human asked no one in particular, trying to keep from being sick at the sight.

"I… I don't know." Ravira answered, just as surprised as Faith was.

Knowing that he would probably have an answer, they both turned to Samael. Of course Jabor and Strife were also waiting on an answer from the demon prince but mode it much less obvious. It seemed unlikely that Samael had caused her death but it wasn't entirely impossible. Though to Ravira and Jabor, this did seem to be a new method than what he usually used.

Samael, in turn, scowled at the corpse for a second before answering, "She was poisoned as well, it would seem."

"Man, everyone's getting poisoned today." Faith mumbled.

"Do you think she did it to herself?" the demon maid asked.

"She would have done it earlier if that was the case, to avoid giving anything away." Strife retorted.

"Well it could have taken a while to work." Ravira shot back.

"In the movies it always works right away." Faith offered.

"Hate to break it to you toots, but this isn't the movies." The Horseman scoffed.

Faith turned to glare at him, "You think I don't know that?" She wished this was all just a movie. That she had somehow become an actress and was surrounded by other actors in very good costumes, in a very real looking set, with very good special effects. But she wasn't. This was her very real life right now. "Maybe when all those bottles fell on her, some of the poison got absorbed into her skin. _That_ can happen, right?"

"…I suppose so." Strife finally admitted, albeit reluctantly.

"Enough." Samael spoke up. He didn't sound angry, just tired and thoughtful. "Jabor, take Faith to her room. Ravira, start cleaning this mess up."

"Yes, Master." The demons said in unison.

With that, everyone began to disperse. Samael stalked out of the kitchen and back to his throne room. Ravira left via secret passage to go find some cleaning supplies and most likely to grieve her friend's betrayal and death in private. Lastly, Strife started to follow behind Samael out of the kitchen to head back to his own home for the night. Wherever that was. Needless to say, everyone was lost in their own thoughts, contemplating the events that had just transpired.

Faith watched Jabor as he looked from one had to the other, wondering which was okay to put down – his ax or Shade – to pick up the human. She almost laughed at the serious look on the demon's face but held back.

"It's alright, Jabor, I can walk on my own." Confident that she was fully healed, Faith jumped down from the counter and landed on her feet. Then promptly fell to her knees. Looked like she wasn't fully healed just yet.

Jabor started towards her but Strife beat him to her. "Geez, you're a handful." The Horseman said as he picked up the human.

"What? Then put me down! No one asked you to carry me!" Faith exclaimed. "Besides, I'm perfectly capable of walking on my own."

"No one had to ask me to. And it didn't look like it to me." He scoffed as he carried her out of the kitchen and through the palace, Jabor following behind them.

"I just needed a minute, I _was_ just almost killed after all."

"Exactly, so just shut up and let me carry you."

Faith couldn't think of an answer to that so she just kept her mouth shut.

"You had everyone worried about you." The Horseman mumbled so quietly Faith almost didn't hear him. "Even me."

The human looked up at Strife in surprise and couldn't keep the blush from crawling across her face. She didn't think that the Horseman exactly hated her but didn't think that he really cared about her either. She figured he saw her much the same as Samael did. Meaning entertainment or a momentary distraction. So she certainly hadn't expected him to say he was worried about her. It was… sweet.

Not another word was spoken between them until they finally reached her room and he set her on the edge of her bed.

"Take care of yourself." Strife said, sounding as awkward as she felt. "I've got to go report all this to the Council so… I'll… see you later."

"Uh, yeah. I'll see you later. And… thanks for… everything."

The White Rider didn't say anything else and just nodded before grabbing his helmet from the coffee table where he left it that morning before leaving her with Jabor and Shade.

Once he was gone, the demon bodyguard set the Hellhound on the bed beside his master where he immediately crawled onto her lap.

"I will tell Ravira to prepare you something to eat once she is done cleaning." Jabor said.

Suddenly wondering what time it was, Faith checked her watch and saw that it was actually pretty late. She had completely missed dinner. Not that it bothered her any. She shook her head, placing her watch on the nightstand, "Thanks but no, I don't think I can eat anything right now. Plus, Ravira has enough to deal with already." _Having to clean up her best friend's corpse and all that._

"As you wish." Jabor nodded before leaving and shutting the door behind him.

Now alone with her Hellhound, Faith flopped back onto the bed with a sigh, "Well Shade, today was one Hell of a day."

In response, Shade crawled off her lap and licked her cheek before curling up beside her head. It seemed he was as exhausted by the day's events as she was.

"It was pretty okay until I almost died. Getting CPR was also new. Didn't really like watching my friend being tortured, interrogated, then dying. She was such a good cook too… but hey, at least we now know about a secret organization Hell bent on Chaos and possible destruction." She absentmindedly ran a hand through Shade's fur. "I wonder if they'll get someone to replace her."

Too tired now to get ready for bed or even get under the covers, Faith fell into blessed oblivion.


	8. Visitors!

**Hello once again my lovely readers! I have another chapter for you! Thanks go to detrametal and I don't own Darksiders or Lost Boy by Ruth B! …I think that's all. I will not apologize for things and I want red velvet cupcakes! There! I said it! Enjoy! I like shouting! And cupcakes.**

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Faith wondered around the palace as usual, sucking on a blue popsicle and greeting demons as she passed them. Of course Shade trotted along beside her, a bone from his lunch still in his mouth and he was displaying it proudly.

It had been only about four days since the poisoning incident and there was already a new chef in the kitchen along with his new "assistant" who was just there to taste Faith's food for more poison. The human thought this was wholly unnecessary since she wasn't even the one Alichino was trying to kill with her deadly sandwich. In any case, Faith had yet to learn either of their names but did know that the new chef had a talent for ice magic – so popsicles and ice cream were now an actual treat option – and his specialty was Italian cuisine. Faith thought the new food was amazing but still missed Alichino's burgers. As for the assistant, all she knew about him was that he liked to sit in a corner and read a newspaper.

Speaking of minor annoyances, she hadn't seen hide nor hair of the Horseman since the incident. It wasn't that she missed him, not that she would admit anyway, it was just that she had gotten used to seeing him every day and suddenly he had disappeared. Not only that, but lately Samael had been pretty distracted and distant. Not that they talked on a regular basis or anything but he had always at least greeted her when she walked through the throne room, where he nearly always seemed to be. Though, Faith thought he did that just to set her nerves on edge. Now, however, she didn't get even a "hey". In fact, he rarely seemed to be in the throne room at all lately. Maybe he was just disturbed that he had let an enemy get as close to him as Alichino did. She guessed they didn't have background checks here or something. So all in all, she couldn't really blame him.

The one she missed most of all though was Ravira. She had caught glimpses of her here and there and her room was always cleaned when she came back from her daily excursions so Faith knew she was still there and doing her job. She supposed it made sense though, Ravira's best friend had betrayed everyone's trust then died pretty horrifically right in front of them all so of course she was still grieving and wanted to be left alone. But that didn't mean that Faith wasn't lonely without someone to talk to. True, there was still Ulfric and Jabor, or even Shade even though he couldn't talk back, but it wasn't the same.

Faith sighed at the inconvenience but remembered that things could have been a lot worse. "You think things will ever go back to normal? Well, normal for here?" she asked her Hellhound.

Shade just looked up at her and wagged his tail, seemingly just happy to hear his master's voice.

"Yeah, you're right, probably not." With a smile, Faith stopped walking the and crouched down to pet her puppy. She was still surprised at his growth spurt though. Before he was about the size and as fluffy as a pomeranian but over the past few days he had grown to the size of a beagle but still had all of his fluff.

Suddenly Shade turned away from his master, barked once, then took off running down the hall. A bit dumbfounded by her puppy's actions, it took Faith a moment to process what was going on. Realizing she was about to loose sight of her Hellhound, she chased after him, shoving the rest of her popsicle in her mouth and hoping she didn't get brain freeze or choke on the frozen treat. Shade had just rounded a corner when Faith heard… singing. What surprised her the most was that this wasn't some demon song – she'd heard a couple of those and they all sounded more like a war chant than an actual song – but this, she was pretty sure she'd heard this song on the radio at some point.

"There was a time when I was alone, Nowhere to go and no place to call home, My only friend was the man in the moon, And even sometimes he would go away, too. Then one night, as I closed my eyes, I saw a shadow flying high, He came to me with the sweetest smile, Told me he wanted to talk for a while, He said, 'Peter Pan, that's what they call me, I promise that you'll never be lonely,' and ever since that day…"

Faith slowed to a walk, wondering at the strangeness of the situation. Honestly, she was almost… scared to keep going. Whoever was singing didn't sound like any demon she'd heard, besides Ravira, it was too clear and not guttural at all.

"I am a lost boy from Neverland, Usually hanging out with Peter Pan, and when we're bored we play in the woods, Always on the run from Captain Hook, 'Run, run, lost boy,' they say to me, Away from all of reality. Neverland is home to lost boys like me, And lost boys like me are free, Neverland is home to lost boys like me, And lost boys like me are free."

There definitely wouldn't be any angels here so that couldn't be who was singing but was it really a demon? Was there another human pet that no one had told her about? No, this place was huge but she was sure she would have seen them by now. Could it be a trap? Faith had heard the stories of sailors dying at sea because of sirens singing. Of course, she wasn't on the ocean and she'd also heard it only affected men but that could be untrue and who said that sirens couldn't travel?

"He sprinkled me in pixie dust and told me to believe, Believe in him and believe in me, Together we will fly away in a cloud of green, To your beautiful destiny, As we soared above the town that never loved me, I realized I finally had a family, Soon enough we reached Neverland, Peacefully my feet hit the sand, And ever since that day…"

Faith watched as Shade ran through the open door at the end of the hall and into the main hall where the singing was coming from. Was it just her or did it seem like it was getting further away?

"I am a lost boy from Neverland, Usually hanging out with Peter Pan, And when we're bored we paly in the woods, Always on the run from Captain Hook, 'Run, run, lost boy,' they say to me, Away from all of reality. Neverland is home to lost boys like me, And lost boys like me are free, Neverland is home to lost boys like me, And lost boys like me are free."

She was sure that Shade could take of himself but she wasn't going to risk it. So, armed with nothing but a popsicles stick that was partially stained blue, she continued on.

"Peter Pan, Tinkerbell, Wendy Darling, Even Captain Hook, you are my perfect story book, Neverland, I love you so, You are now my home sweet home, Forever a lost boy at last."

Faith crept through the door and into the main hall to see what looked like a cross between a demon and a fairy crouched down and petting Shade who was just sitting there happily enjoying the attention. The singing, which had devolved to humming by now, stopped completely when the demon – of course it had to be demon since fairies didn't exist, right? – looked up and the human standing there.

The demon stood then and Faith took in her appearance. She had pale skin, black hair that fell to her waist with teal colored ribbons intertwined in it, dark grey horns that swept back from her forehead, gossamer wings that fluttered behind her, and iridescent eyes that were looking at her in amusement. Her clothes, Faith noticed with a hint of jealousy, looked designer and consisted of a dark blue off the shoulder loose fitting shirt, severely ripped black jeans, black gloves that reached to just above her elbows, and black stilettoes with a three-inch heel.

"So I take it this Hellhound pup is yours?" the demon asked, her voice sounding almost musical which didn't at all match with the smirk on her face.

"Ah, yeah." Faith answered, walking over and picking up the pup. Standing closer to the demon now, she noticed two short swords on her belt and what she had thought were gloves were actually gauntlets made of some black metal. "He doesn't usually just run off like that."

The she demon just laughed it off, "Don't worry, something about me seems to attract animals."

"Well aren't you a regular Disney princess." Faith mumbled.

The demon laughed again, "I'm… Ruby, by the way."

Faith wondered for a moment if the demon had actually forgotten her own name or if she was lying. "I'm Faith."

"I know. Samael's new pet, right? You'd be hard pressed to find anyone, demon or angel, who doesn't know about you. After your little meeting with the Council they pretty much put out a PSA reminding everyone that kidnapping humans to keep as pets was a bad thing."

"Well that's…" Faith paused for a moment to try and think of the appropriate word.

"Disturbing? Comforting? Interesting? Horrifying?" Ruby offered.

"All of the above, I think. Except maybe comforting."

"Think of it this way," the demon smiled, "if they know about you they know you belong to Samael so they also know not to mess with you or risk the wrath of a demon prince."

"Oh… okay." She kind of wished someone would point that out to Strife when he came back. _If_ he came back.

"Speaking of angering the demon prince, I've got a meeting with him and I'm already late. See ya later, Faith."

"Y-yeah, see you later, uh… Ruby."

With that, the demon turned on her stiletto heel and stalked off towards the throne room, whistling something that sounded suspiciously like _Walking On Sunshine_.

Faith looked down at the puppy in her arms who was looking up at her, happy as could be.

"I guess we better go find a good spot to watch the show." Samael had summoned another demon to the palace and wasn't dressing her up to show off? Something was going down and there was no chance she wasn't going to miss this.

Putting Shade back down, Faith quickly ducked into an empty room and immediately found the hidden button that opened the door to the hidden passage. It wasn't that she had memorized where the stone button was in that particular room but more like they were usually in the same general area so she was able to find it with relative ease. Once inside the passage, she shut the door behind her and made her way down the hidden hall, up the stairs, and onto her favorite balcony in the throne room. It still was not the most ideal place to run from, unless she planned to jump from it again, but she doubted anyone would be chasing her this time.

Faith crawled through the small tunnel, Shade right behind her, and made herself comfy as close to the railing to see the throne room below. Of course, Shade made himself comfy on her lap. As if waiting for her to get properly seated first, the large double doors swung open and "Ruby" walked in. The she demon stalked towards Samael, still whistling some tune, who was sitting on his throne as usual. Ruby stopped only a meter or so away from the demon prince and gave an almost mocking half bow.

 _Power move._

"Sammy, I believe you called for me?"

 _So other people call him Sammy too? Interesting…_

"I did." He grinned. "But first, what do I call you today?"

 _"Call her today"? Does that mean she always uses a different name everyday or something?_

The she demon shrugged, "I told your new little pet to call me Ruby so we'll stick with that."

"So you met her." Samael said, though to Faith he sounded almost angry but she couldn't understand why. He let her roam around as she wished so of course she was probably going to meet some of his guests.

"I did. Nice girl. Too bad you kidnapped her and all that so she's probably going to die here without ever seeing her family or friends again."

Samael started to rise from his throne, a growl tearing itself from his throat.

 _I guess he doesn't like having his actions questioned._

The fairy demon waved him off, making Faith think that she must have nerves of steel or something, "Never mind that. What did you call me here for?"

Samael looked for a moment as if he wasn't going to allow this change in subject but sat back down in his chair, "What do you know about the Reigns of Chaos?"

Ruby looked taken aback, "The great Prince of Blood Samael doesn't know something? That's surprising." Sarcasm seemed to drip off every word but Faith could tell that Ruby was actually shocked by the revelation.

Samael just growled again, unwilling to give an explanation of his lapse in power.

Ruby shrugged, "Probably not much more than any other outsider. It's a fairly new 'secret' organization made up of demons, angels, and a bunch of other lesser known creatures whose main goal is to take down every known major power figure including you, the Dark Prince, maybe Lilith, Azreal, Abaddon, and a few others. That's all I really know."

"Can you find out anything else?"

"Can't you?" Before Samael could growl out an answer, Ruby waved him off again, "Even if I could, I wouldn't tell you anything. In case you've forgotten, _Sammy_ , we don't have the best history."

The Blood Prince just chuckled, "I thought you had moved beyond that."

Ruby growled before collecting herself and shrugging it off. It seemed she really liked that action. "Of course I have, it happed forever ago, after all. But in any case, if you want to know anything else you'll have to find someone who's a part of the group and ask them. Good luck with that though."

"You know of someone." It wasn't a question.

"Maybe I do, maybe I don't. Despite what everyone seems to think, I _don't_ know everyone."

"But you _do_ know of someone in this… organization." Again, it wasn't a question. Samael knew this for a fact.

Faith thought she heard the she demon growl again but it was too quiet for her to be for certain.

"Again, maybe I do, maybe I don't. Maybe who I'm thinking of could be working with them or he could just be a dumbass angel who doesn't listen. I don't know every _thing_ either. In any case, that's all I know so that's all I'm telling you. Now to keep up your end of the bargain, just leave me alone. Another century or so should do nicely."

Samael ignored her and sat thinking for a moment before waving his had dismissively at the she demon, "It is a deal. You may leave now."

Ruby looked as if she wanted to say something but thought better of it and shut her mouth before angrily turning on her heel and stalking out of the throne room. Even her heels clicking on the stone floor sounded angry.

Faith hurried after her, eager to ask the demon some questions of her own. Crawling through the secret door, she ran down the passage and picked a room at random to exit in to the main hall through, Shade hot on her heels the whole way. Not bothering to check the room through the peephole first, Faith simply opened the door and walked in. the sight that greeted her, however, was not one she expected.

Peeking out into the hall through a crack in the doorway was none other than the Horseman War, a demon with its head facing the wrong direction laying at his feet.

Shade barked once, grabbing the Rider's attention, and he turned to face the human and the Hellhound.

"You're not supposed to be here, are you?" Faith finally asked after a long pause.

"…No." War answered after another long pause.

"…Sammy's not gonna be happy that you killed one o his demons."

"…No."

"Is that the only thing you can say?"

"No." War answered, seeming a bit annoyed now. Faith returned the feeling. After all, he had killed Steve – not that that was the demon's real name but apparently a lot of demons didn't have names so she gave him one – and he always let her win at poker.

"I'm guessing you're not here to see Sammy so are you following that demon Ruby?"

"…Yes."

"Why? Did she do something bad?"

"…No…"

It only took a second for Faith to figure it out, "Ooooh, I see. I'll leave you to it then. And don't worry, I won't tell anyone you were here or anything. Though, I'm pretty sure he already knows."

She was about to turn and leave through the passages when the Horseman said one word that made her stop, "Strife."

Faith held up a hand to silence him, "I'm gonna stop you right there. I don't care what he's doing, has done, or is going to do, much less where he actually is right now. That jackass just up and disappears without a word so he can go fuck himself."

"That hurts toots, but I'd rather you do it." Said a familiar voice right next to her ear before a metal clad arm wrapped around her waist and pulled her back into the hidden passage. The door quickly slid shut, leaving a very confused War wondering what the human was going on about and why exactly his brother was doing.

On the other side of the wall, Faith whipped around to face the Rider, her visage red from anger and embarrassment. She couldn't help but think about what his words implied, though she knew he was just messing with her like always.

"The Hells do you think you're doing?"

"Saving you from an awkward situation." The Horseman answered with a smirk, which made Faith wonder for a moment where his helmet was.

Faith huffed, "The only thing awkward around here is you." Even she wasn't sure what she meant by that. "But anyway what are you doing _here_?"

"Trying to find you."

"What? Why?"

"Mostly so I can do my job." Strife sighed.

The human felt a little disappointed that he was just looking for her for his job but didn't let it show and instead crossed her arms and glared at him, "Well you found me so your job is done and you can leave now."

She turned and started to walk away but Strife grabbed her wrist and pulled her back, causing Shade to start growling and Faith to stumble back into the Horseman's arms which he wrapped around her, pressing her back to his chest. "I've got to make sure you're alright too. Just seeing you isn't enough."

Faith struggled to get out of the Horseman's arms but he was too strong, "Well I am perfectly fine. At least I haven't been poisoned again." She looked to Shade to help but he just sat there tail wagging and tongue lolling out. _Traitor._

Strife's hold slackened at her words and Faith took the opportunity to turn around to face him. She was about to tell him off when the pained look on his face made her stop.

"Look, I'm… sorry about that."

That was the last thing she expected to hear from him but there was no question as to what he was referring to. "It's not like it was your fault so don't worry about it."

"But if I hadn't stolen your food again then all of that never would have happened."

"Well I heard you gave me CPR and saved me so I guess we're even." Faith could feel her face heating up again at the thought. She tried looking anywhere else but at the Horseman but unfortunately that was hard to do since she was pretty much nose-to-chest with him. _Why am I so embarrassed? It's not as if it was an actual kiss, just CPR and I wasn't even conscious for it._

"I would rather it have been me."

"What?" Faith looked back up at the Horseman in confusion. She noticed for the first time that without his helmet on his eyes looked more golden than just yellow.

"I would rather it have been me that got poisoned instead of you."

"Don't say that." The human huffed. "If you had gotten poisoned instead I doubt any of the demons would have jumped in to save you. No offense but you're not the most popular person around here."

Strife chuckled, "You're probably right."

"Besides, I don't think that's really in your job description." She had meant it as a joke but the sad look on Strife's face made her think that he hadn't taken it that way.

The Horseman just looked at the human for a moment before sighing and releasing her, "You don't get it yet, do you? It's not just about the job anymore." Without another word he turned and left.

"Hey, wait! Get _what_?" Faith called after him.

He didn't turn around or even acknowledge her so Faith just watched him go until he rounded a corner and was let wondering many things. What was she supposed to get? Why did she feel as if she should have gone after him? Why didn't she? What was he doing in the passages in the first place? And most importantly…

"Shade, why do I feel as if I messed up?"


	9. It was all a dream

**I'm back! Do I realize this took me a while? Kinda. Do I care? Slightly. Do I want some kind of random sweet? I think you know the answer to that as long as it's not an éclair. Not really a fan. But thanks for asking. ^-^ Anyway, thanks go to detrametal and I don't own Darksiders. Now that the usual stuff is over and done with... I want twelve pounds of chocolate icing. You don't need to know why. And to booknerd104, I hope you find this better than fake murder. And to those of you curious about Ruby from the last chapter, she's actually from another story of mine Singing on the Wind. Soooooo check it out if you want.**

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She stared deep into his golden eyes as he leaned in closer, his arms wrapped tightly around her and his usual smirk gracing his face. It seemed softer somehow, sweeter even. If it was even _possible_ for a smirk to seem sweet.

"I love you." He said softly. She didn't think he was capable of using such a tender voice, much less using it to say those three special words. He didn't give her a chance to reply as he brushed his lips against hers, as if testing the waters. Still, it sent a pleasant shock through her whole body.

In response, she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him closer to deepen the kiss. She could feel him smile against her lips as he tangled his hand in her blonde hair and pulled, yanking her head back to where he could get better access to her neck. He trailed kisses down her throat, sending waves of pleasure and excitement coursing through her.

"I… love you." She gasped before managing to push him back onto the bed and straddle his hips. For once he didn't have his armor on and instead wearing faded jeans, a black t-shirt, and a light blue long-sleeve button down over it with the sleeves rolled up and unbuttoned. Of course he still had his pistols in their holsters on his belt.

"What are you waiting for toots?" he asked, grabbing her waist, his smirk turning seductive.

"Nothing." Faith grinned as she leaned down for another heart stopping kiss from Strife…

…

Faith woke with a start, sitting straight up in bed and breathing hard. Her sudden movement had sent Shade to barking as he struggled to find a way out from under the covers. She was just starting to calm down and about to dig her Hellhound out when a familiar voice surprised her.

"What the Hell was that about?"

In response, she screamed and tried to scramble away only to end up falling off the side of the bed. She shut her eyes tightly, waiting to meet the floor yet again but the impact never came. She opened her eyes but in the darkness of her room could only see his glowing golden eyes mere inches from hers. She quickly realized that the Horseman – who else could it be – had caught her with an arm around her waist, stopping her fall while also putting them in quite the awkward position.

Remembering the dream, Faith could feel her face heating up and was sure Strife could see her blush even in the dark.

"Let go of me you bastard!" Faith screamed, raising a hand to slap the Rider. She hadn't meant to actually hit him, it was simply a knee-jerk reaction to the situation.

Of course saw this coming and caught her wrist easily with his free hand. "I already let you hit me once, pup."

"W-what? N-no, I…" Faith stammered out, at a complete loss for words. "Wait, let go of me!"

 _Wait, how's he holding me and my arm without us falling? He's gotta have some amazing balance and core strength. Wait again, is now really the time to be thinking about that?_

"Now why would I do that?" Strife asked. Faith could practically feel the smirk radiating off him.

"B-because I said so!" the human countered.

Apparently, the Horseman didn't feel like letting her go and instead wanted to tease her a bit more, "Why so nervous, pup?"

"Maybe I don't like being held in the dark by someone I barely know!"

Strife pulled her closer and Faith could feel his breath tickled her ear as he whispered, "Then why don't you get to know me?"

Faith could feel her heart thumping wildly in her chest and was sure that everyone in the palace could hear it, "B-because…" she began, finding herself staring into his golden eyes yet again.

 _I want to kiss him._

So she did. Closing her eyes, Faith pulled herself closer to the Horseman and pressed her lips against his. For a moment she was worried that she would push her away, that she had gotten the completely wrong idea from his words, but that thought was soon dispelled.

Instead of pushing her away, Strife wrapped both arms around her waist, pulling her closer so that they were both kneeling on the bed. Her other hand now free, she wrapped it around his neck to deepen the kiss even further. He, in turn, tangled a hand in her hair and tugged lightly but not hard enough to hurt.

 _Hm, this is just like my dream. Wait, didn't_ that _happen next?_

Just as the thought crossed her mind, Shade finally escaped from under the covers and started barking again, probably thinking that his master was being attacked.

Surprised, Faith pushed away from the Horseman, breaking the kiss and sending them both tumbling back. Strife fell back onto the bed – though the human didn't think she had pushed him that hard – while Faith ended up on the floor after all with her legs propped up on the side of the bed. Of course Shade had to add insult to injury and jump down onto her stomach, making Faith groan in pain.

"What the Hell was that for?" Strife asked.

Faith chose not to answer and instead just stared into the darkness, contemplating her actions and life in general.

"Hey, you're not dead are you?"

Yet again, she didn't answer. Maybe if he thought she was dead or something he'd leave. Though, she probably _would_ die from embarrassment soon. Not only did she kiss him out of nowhere – though he did kind of invite it – she also shoved him away for no apparent reason other than Shade startling her. She also remembered what happened next in the dream but that was a bit harder to explain. So instead she just focused on the darkness above her and the warm stone floor beneath her.

"Are you going to lay down there all day?"

"That's the plan." She finally answered.

Strife let out a sigh and Faith thought he was giving up until she heard him say "Guess we'll have to do this the hard way then."

She was about to ask what he meant by that when she felt hands grab her ankles right above the manacles. Faith yelped in surprise and clutched Shade tightly to her chest as she was dragged almost violently back onto the bed by that damn Horseman, her shirt riding up so her stomach was fully exposed.

Once on the bed, she felt the mattress dip on either side of her head and felt a presence leaning over her though she still couldn't see anything. Faith thought for a moment that she should really turn on the lights but quickly dismissed the idea. It would be far too embarrassing.

"Did you have to bring the mutt with you?" asked the pair of glowing golden eyes now right above her.

"Yes, I did." The human huffed indignantly. "And for your information, he is a purebred." At least, she thought he was anyway.

Grabbing the Hellhound by the scruff, Strife picked up the puppy and dropped him off to the side and out of the way.

"Hey!"

Now there was nothing between them except empty air but even that disappeared as Strife leaned down and captured Faith's lips with his own. Creator, he wanted this.

The human was caught off guard by this. Sure, he didn't push her away the first time but for whatever reason she didn't expect him to kiss her again. Not that she was complaining. He was a damn fine kisser after all. For a jackass.

Faith turned her head to the side, breaking the kiss to where she could catch her breath. She had actually forgotten to breathe.

As her breathing returned to normal, Strife couldn't help but think about how cute her reactions were and how he just wanted to tease her more.

"Why are you doing this?" she finally asked.

"You kissed me first toots. I'm just returning the favor."

"Well no need to inconvenience yourself for my sake." Faith huffed.

Strife gave a frustrated sigh, "Are you always this difficult?"

"Yes."

The Horseman gave another, even more frustrated sigh, "Look, I'm not doing this just because you… what I mean to say is…"

Faith was actually surprised to find the Rider at a loss for words. Of course she had no intention of helping him out either.

Apparently not able to get out what he wanted to say, he just looked at her for a moment before speaking again, "Are all humans this dense or is it just you?"

"Yes." She said again, causing Strife to groan.

Deciding that words were useless at the moment, Strife simply leaned down and kissed the human again.

This time, Faith remembered to breathe through her nose as she wrapped her arms around the Horseman's neck. Even though she really needed answers right then – since he didn't really give a clear one before – she didn't really want to stop their current activity to ask. Was he after a friends with benefits kind of thing? If that was the case, she wasn't really interested. Sure, it sounded fun but she wanted something more. Did he actually have feelings for her? It seemed impossible considering what a jackass he was but even they needed love too, right? Still seemed unlikely though.

All those thoughts were pushed from her mind as she felt Strife reach down and slide a hand over her bare stomach and grabbing her hip possessively. She felt goosebumps rise all across her body but didn't think that it was the coolness of his armor that was doing it. Speaking of which, how was his armor not hot to the touch? He was in literal Hell where it was nothing _but_ hot. Though come to think of it, the fingers on her bare skin felt too… soft to be covered in armor but she was sure he was gauntlets earlier and hadn't noticed him taking them off.

Faith realized then that she was focusing on the wrong thing so switch her attention back to the task at hand which was… making out with the Horseman. Wait… when did his tongue get in her mouth?

She couldn't help the moan that escaped her at this realization and felt Strife smirk against her mouth in response and move his hand a bit higher to her waist.

The touch wasn't unwelcome, neither was the kissing for that matter, just… unusual. Never in her wildest dreams – except the one she had last night – did she imagine she'd be making out with a Horseman of the Apocalypse. Not to mention he would be-

 _Whoa, whoa, whoa, where is he reaching?!_

Faith almost started panicking as she felt Strife's hand slowly slide up her body and into more intimate territory, his fingertips just under the edge of her shirt. Should she stop him or see were this went even though she already had a pretty good idea. It wasn't as if she didn't want this but wasn't it a bit too soon? They hardly knew each other after all. Not to mention that she still didn't know what he wanted from her. She wasn't into the whole meaningless sex with no strings attached kind of relationship. That's pretty much what she had with her last boyfriend and she hated every second of it but didn't have the guts to break it off. Could it be possible that he wanted an actual relationship too? He didn't really seem the type but then again, he also didn't seem the type to feel guilty about someone else almost dying in his place so maybe he was just full of surprises. Either way, she had to have an answer before they went any further.

Unwrapping her arms from around his neck, Faith put one hand on his chest and the other on his forearm and gently pushed.

Getting the message, Strife broke the kiss. Looking down at his flushed faced human – glowing eyes gave him great night vision – he wondered what the problem was now. Then he noticed that one of his hands was dangerously close to groping her and that his gauntlet had somehow come off. When did that happen? No wonder she stopped him then. He still didn't move his hand.

"What do you want?" she asked suddenly, surprising him.

"I want to go back to what we were doing?" he smirked.

"No." It was her turn to let out a frustrated sigh. What I mean is… do you want me or… my… body…?" Strife didn't think it was possible but she turned even redder. "Cause I'll tell you now, I don't want a friends with benefits, no strings attached, quick fuck and I'll see you later kind of thing. I've already been in that kind of relationship and I don't want it again so if that's all you're after then we can just stop this right now." Her piece spoken, Faith fell silent.

Strife couldn't help but smile at the stupid question. Did he really seem like that kind of guy? Well… he supposed he did but he was about to prove otherwise.

Apparently he had been silent for too long as Faith started speaking again, "Could you stop staring and say something? Or if you don't wanna answer, could you get off of me?"

Strife thought about torturing her a bit more with his silence but ultimately decided against it. The sooner he answered her, the sooner they could get back to their earlier activity. "You."

"Wha?" she honestly hadn't expected him to give that answer.

"Don't make me repeat myself." He whispered seductively, making Faith shiver.

"What if I want to hear you say it again?"

The Horseman's usual smirk grew wider, "I want y-"

Before he could finish what he was saying, the door to Faith's room slammed open and Ulfric stomped in looking excited, "Faith, the eggs are…" the demon trailed off as he noticed the position the human and Horseman were in. "What's-"

"Do you mother fucking mind?" Faith asked the intruding demon, her voice strained with a mixture of anger and impatience.

"Uh, no? I was just going to tell you that the eggs are hatching."

Strife saw the human's eyes light up at the news but the only thing she did was sigh and say, "Fine, I'll be there in a minute."

The demon seemed to grin, "Take your time." He left then, leaving the door open and Shade following him out.

She looked back at Strife then and finally realized the position that they were in as well. The Horseman was leaning over her, straddling her thighs with barely an inch between them and propped up by an elbow on the bed with his other hand back on her waist.

Faith felt her face heat up as she tried to look anywhere but at the Horseman but it was impossible with how close he was. She missed the darkness. "So I uh, better go. We've been waiting on the eggs to hatch for a while."

"Who said I'd let you just leave?" Strife asked, running his hand back up her body.

"Wha? But I… uh…"

The Horseman smirked, "Calm down toots, I'm just kidding."

"Oh…" Was it just him or did she actually sound disappointed?

Strife rolled off of her then, laying back on the bed and lacing his fingers behind his head. "Go see those weird birds hatch."

She was tempted to tell him that they were chickens and _not_ "weird birds" but instead just climbed off the bed. Before she could though, Strife grabbed her arm and pulled her back for one last maddeningly passionate kiss before letting her go.

Faith stumbled back a step, the blush she'd just gotten rid of rising back to her face. With a mumbled "see you later" she ran out of the room, forgetting she was still in her pjs and her bare feet slapping against the stone floor.

 _I wonder if she wouldn't mind me taking a cold shower?_ Strife thought to himself.

…

Faith practically ran up the stairs, only realizing when she got to the top that she probably should have changed out of her pajamas. Also that she should have taken the hidden passages.

In the throne room she found Jabor playing tug-of-war with Shade using a purple rope toy and Samael grinning at her. Did he know what happened? Of course he did. He knew everything that happened in his palace. She half expected him to put a stop to it for some reason.

Tired of looking at that infuriating grin of her "master's", Faith turned to leave and find Ulfric But Samael stopped her.

"Faith."

She didn't feel like facing him so just looked over her shoulder to show that he had her attention and decided that if he said _anything_ about what happened in her room, she'd walk out of the palace right then and damn the consequences.

"How would you like to go for a walk?"


	10. Let's go for a walk

**I'm finally back! And not dead! Yet… Kinda sorry it took so long for an update buuuuut… whatevs. Anywho! To ruin things! I wanted! Kind of a cute! Date chapter! So deal! With it! Or not, I still like turtles. As per usual, many thanks go to detrametal for beta-ing and I don't own Darksiders! Really enjoyed Genesis though. Anyone else?**

* * *

"Okay, I get the whole concept of going for a 'walk' and all that," Faith began as she fiddled with the hem of her jacket sleeve, "but why _here_ and why with _you_?"

"What's the matter pup, missing your master already?" Strife quipped. He looked almost uncomfortable surrounded by so many humans but apparently not enough to stop antagonizing Faith.

The human just glared up at him, hating at that moment that he was so much taller than her. Though she had to admit, he looked pretty good without all that armor on. Almost like in her dream, he was wearing a white T-shirt with a black long-sleeved button down shirt over it but left it unbuttoned, black ripped jeans, and heavy boots. Naturally, he had to leave his guns behind. What tripped her out the most though was his hair. Usually it was kind of slicked back because of his helmet but it now reminded her of an anime character, especially when he ran his hand through it to get it out of his eyes.

"Besides, I thought you would be happy to be back on Earth."

"I am but… when Sammy said 'walk' I expected he'd be taking me around Hell or something. Not send me to a city on Earth to go shopping with you. Not to mention," she pulled a little plastic card from her jeans pocket, "he actually sent me with a credit card."

Strife snatched the card out of her hand to get a better look at it, "Where'd he even get this thing? And who the Hell is Hugh Mann?"

"That's what I'm asking. I mean that's obviously a fake name and not even a good one at that." Faith took the card back from the Horseman and tucked it back into her pocket. She almost felt sorry for the credit card company since she doubted Samael was planning to pay any of his bills. At least it seemed he had a sense of humor when it came to picking a name to give them.

"So what are we here for?" Strife sighed.

"To walk, remember?" Faith replied, feeling it was her turn for a smart remark.

"Well Samael gave you a credit card for _something_."

"He didn't tell me for what though. He just gave it to me and shoved me out the door. Literally."

"I know. I was there. I caught you, remember?" Strife reminded her.

"I don't remember anything." Faith lied. Of course she remembered how Sammy practically dragged her to the door, Jabor holding a whining Shade so he couldn't following her, handed her the card, and literally shoved her out of the palace doors and right into Strife's arms. She still didn't know how she was even able to leave with the manacles and all that but decided not to think on it too much.

"So assuming he gave it to you for whatever, what are you going to get?" Not that he actually cared.

Faith thought for a moment before grinning, "Whatever I want. New clothes, all designer of course. Maybe a TV, the newest game system, with games naturally. A nice lunch and/or supper. Some new books. Oh, and shoes. Lot's of shoes."

"Then we better got started." Strife said, though for some reason he had a bad feeling about this trip.

…

It was a couple of hours later when they finally stopped for a break to get something to drink at some outdoor café. At least, Strife thought it was a couple of hours. Sure felt like it. Time seemed to pass by at an agonizing crawl as the human dragged him around to shop after shop and tried on outfit after outfit. Creator, he wouldn't even _touch_ the subject of shoes. Not to mention games, books, and toys and snacks for Shade. Though he was surprised no one said anything about her collar or shackles even though he knew some people saw them. Perhaps they just thought they were a fashion statement or some weird kink thing.

Of course, she made him carry all of the bags which made even his arms – with all his Nephilim strength – feel like they were about to fall off. Why couldn't she be one of those humans that ordered everything off the internet? Then again, he supposed he couldn't argue too much. After all, she did buy him the newest console made by that company with the red logo. He couldn't never remember the name but was pretty sure it started with an N. While paying, she made the excuse that it was so she wouldn't have to play some smashing brothers game by herself.

 _Sure, whatever you say._

Finally, the human returned from getting their coffee. Well, at least his was a coffee – black of course – Faith had ordered something that sounded more like a magic spell than an drink.

"Here's you plain, boring, no cream, no sugar coffee." She said, setting a cup down on the table in front of him. "And here's my… I don't feel like repeating it… my much more awesome and way more delicious drink."

Ignoring the human who had sat down with a sigh, he took a sip of his drink, nor really expecting much.

 _It'll do._

Glancing over at Faith, he expected to see her guzzling down her drink like it wasn't even hot – he'd seen her do it before and it was a bit frightening – but instead found her with her chin propped up on one hand, the other wrapped around her cup, and staring at the metal band stuck around her wrist.

Looking up, she caught him staring and could only smile at him. It was the kind of almost sad smile that made him think that sure, things weren't the best but they could be worse.

"What? Regretting you can't show them off more?" he asked, half joking.

"No." she answered after a moment, pulling her jacket sleeve back down to cover the shackle. "Just glad it's winter so I have an excuse to wear a jacket. Don't like people staring at me cause of these things."

"And here I thought you liked to be the center of attention." He scoffed.

Faith didn't answer and instead switched her gaze to the people walking past them. "Ya know, demons are great and all but I've missed being around other normal people."

Strife took another sip of his coffee and decided to change the subject, "Never mind that, just tell me how one person can shop so much."

Faith grinned at the Horseman, "I'm a woman with nothing but time and a credit card with no limit. I shop, therefore I am."

"What the Hell is that supposed to mean?"

She just shrugged, "It means what it means. You ready to get going again?" she asked before chugging the rest of her drink, which was still pretty warm.

Strife was actually surprised, "Going where? You've been to nearly every store here."

"But not _every_ store. There's still a few left." With that, she reached under the table to grab some of the bags, figured it was time she helped the Horseman carry them, only to find that they were missing.

"Hey, where's-"

"Gave them to a demon to take back to Samael."

"Oh… why didn't you do that sooner instead of lugging them around until now?" she asked.

"Why didn't you help lug those bags around?" he shot back.

"Fair enough."

"Anyway, it's bad manners to summon demons around humans. They start panicking for some reason."

"For _some_ reason." Faith rolled her eyes. "But that makes sense. Humans are pretty close-minded when it comes to other intelligent species."

"So where are you dragging me to next?" Strife asked, getting up to throw their empty cups away. He was aware of how annoyed he sounded but despite that, he was actually enjoying their little excursion. It wasn't often that he had an excuse to walk around humans on Earth.

"Just across the street. There's a chocolate shop I _need_ to visit."

" _Need_?"

"Absolutely _need_. As in it is necessary to my survival to get at least on of everything in that shop."

"We've already been to two chocolate shops _and_ a candy store." Strife pointed out.

Faith shrugged then practically skipped to the empty crosswalk to wait for the light to change.

With a sigh and smile he couldn't help, Strife made his way over to stand beside the human who was humming some nonsense tune to herself as the watched the people walking around them. He couldn't help but watch her. She kept her hands, along with the chains from her shackles, tucked into her jacket pockets. She was probably still trying to keep other humans from seeing them and getting the wrong idea. He wasn't sure how but for nearly the whole day she seemed to be calm yet nervous at the same time. Strife didn't even think that was possible. It was as if Faith was glad to be back around other humans but at the same time it made her anxious.

 _Probably more used to demons by now._ He thought to himself.

Finally, the light turned and Faith immediately started across the street only for a large silver truck to come speeding towards her. Of course, the human was on his phone and hadn't noticed the red light or the crosswalk. It didn't surprise Strife at all to see that Faith was too focused on the chocolate shop to notice the truck.

"Faith!" He yelled, trying to warn his human.

It all seemed to happen in slow motion as she turned back to look what he was yelling about and finally saw the vehicle barreling towards her and she could only stare at it in shock.

Strife, meanwhile, acted quickly. Grabbing his human by the arm, he pulled her back out of danger. He probably nearly broke her arm but at least she wasn't dead. Surprised, Faith stumbled back and once again found herself wrapped tightly in Strife's arms, her cheek pressed against his firm chest. A split second later, the truck zoomed on by, not even slowing down. Both were happy to hear police sirens follow after it.

It was then, as she clung to Strife with her hands clutching his shirt in a death-grip, that Faith comprehended what had just happened. The Horseman had saved her life. Again. If he hadn't pulled her back, the truck would have hit and most likely killed her. If she wasn't holding on to Strife so tightly, she probably wouldn't have been able to stand

There were shouts of surprise and concerned voices all around them now but one voice stood out among all of them. "Are you alright?"

Faith looked up at the Horseman, seeing the worry clear in his golden eyes. "I'm fine." She told him, forcing a smile even though she just felt like falling to the ground and possibly crying.

 _What is this? A scene from one of those ridiculously cliché romance novels? I need to let go of him._ Faith thought to herself, preparing to finally release the Rider.

Unbelieving, Strife just looked at her for a moment before sweeping her up into his arms, carrying her back to the café they were just at, and setting her down in an empty chair.

"You didn't need to do that." Faith huffed once she was no longer in danger of her legs giving out.

"Try telling me that _after_ you stop shaking so much." Strife scoffed, though he was still looking at her with concern. How many near-death experiences was this human going to have?"

"I'm not-" Faith began but stopped when she noticed that her hands were indeed shaking. "…Fine, but only for a bit."

Strife crossed his arms and looked at the human, "I'll go across the street to that shop, you stay here and-"

"Faith?" a new voice spoke up. "Is that you?"

"Oh, crap…" Faith recognized that voice.

Strife noticed a woman about Faith's age rushing over to them, a bewildered expression on her face. "You know her?"

Faith didn't answer and instead stumbled out of her seat and took off down the sidewalk.

"Shit…" Strife mumbled before following after her.

"What the fuck?" the woman asked no one in particular before running after them. "Get back here Faith! You owe me some answers!"

It didn't take long for Strife to catch up to his human and together they ducked into an alley between two apartment buildings.

"What… the Hells… is she… doing here?" Faith asked as she leaned on a wall trying to catch her breath.

"A friend of yours?" Strife asked, not even breathing hard. Faith hated him a little bit for that.

She nodded, "Best friend. Her name's Hope."

"And you ran from her because…?"

"I just panicked, okay?" the human glared at him. "Besides, I thought it wouldn't be a good idea to let her see me after… what happened. The kidnapping and all that."

"I think you made her more suspicious by running." The Horseman pointed out.

"Whatever. Let's just go, I think we lost her and there's still a few more shops I want to visit."

They stated to exit the alley but ducked back when they heard her.

"Faith! Faaaaaith! Where the bloody Hells did you go?" Hope was yelling as she drew closer to their hiding spot.

"Shit." It was Faith's turn to mumble.

"Forget the shops, it's time to leave." Strife sighed before tucking the human under one arm and jumping. He bounded off the walls of the buildings, zig-zagging his way up until he landed on the roof and was able to set the human down.

Once her feet were back solid concrete, Faith opened her eyes and took her hands away from her mouth, a precaution to keep herself from screaming, though it didn't quite work. She peeked over the edge to see Hope glance into the alley before moving on. She sank to the ground in relief. Of course she wanted to talk to her friend but wasn't sure what would happen to her if she stayed too long, nor did she want to find out.

"Bummer, I really wanted to go to that chocolate shop for Ravira."

"Maybe you can ask your master to bring you back." The Horseman told her, reaching down a hand to help the human back to her feet.

Faith glared at him for the master comment but took the offered hand, "I'll make sure he sends you with me."

Strife didn't say anything and they made their way through the Veil between worlds and back to Sammy's palace.

* * *

 **Yeah… sorry it took me so long to update but I'ma try and do it more often now but don't expect anything! And yes, I realize that truck scene is super cliché! Don't you judge me! I know my rights!**


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